I dream of Hilary
by allconspirer
Summary: Ok this is about Kai a man many think to be heartless but a new girl in his life will change all that, of course she isn't what she seems. KaiHil, TalMar
1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone!

Before you wonder this has nothing to do with any of my other fics!!

I was contacted not long ago by who asked me to write this story. I do not own any of this really, not the characters, not the plot nothing just the blood sweat and tears…ok maybe it wasn't that bad but I did work hard on it.

This story has nothing really to do with any beyblade episodes, the main characters are the Blitzkrieg Boys and the Blade Breaker teams. KaiHil centric as usual for me but it was a request so don't blame me.

So this is totally dedicated to ari dark princess

I do not own Beyblade

* * *

Kai Hiwatari was generally considered to be one of the luckiest boys in the world. He was the Ritchie Rich of the day, he had a nursery the size of most peoples houses. Every toy, every film, every game he had ever wanted he received. All he had to do was say what he wanted and he got it, his friends at school were brought with whatever he decided to hand out, and they were sold just as easily.

His birthday was the 24th of December but he still got more presents for each day than most got on them both. He was also allowed to throw a huge party during any point in the year just to make up for the fact that his birthday was overshadowed by the public holiday.

He got more presents then as well.

If he wanted a particular band to be transported to their mansion to perform for him alone as a simple treat he got it, if he wanted a roller coaster built in their back garden his father had picked up the phone and called in the contractors before the day was out. His beyblade coach was the best one that money could buy but if he couldn't be bothered to do the practice and exercise he didn't have to. Getting movies on video or DVD before they had even gone into most cinemas was just a perk that came from having a mother in the industry.

To top it all off he never considered himself to be spoilt because he never met anyone who would dare to say it.

Of course there were a few things that Kai had missed out on, his parents worked almost constantly to provide him with his lifestyle and he often felt lonely. His mother, a director was usually abroad while his father the owner and CEO of Hiwatari Enterprises worked in his office almost 24/7. Neither of them usually made it to his birthdays and they rarely spent any time with him at all. His dinners were eaten in front of a TV watching whatever movie he had decided to see, or playing a video game, but he was usually alone, lonely.

Yes lonely was the best way to describe the young Kai Hiwatari.

--

It was his seventh birthday that both his parents managed to get to, Kai had been thrilled to see them there and had been equally thrilled to discover that they wouls spend Christmas day together as well.

"Mom?" Kai asked as he watched his mother tuck him in

"Yes honey"

"Will Santa bring me everything I asked for?" he asked innocently

His mother sighed almost impatiently "Kai… Santa isn't real" his mother told him gently "he's just an imaginary person that parents who can't control their children use to make them behave at Christmas"

"Not real?" the boy questioned looking tragic "but what about my presents?"

"Oh honey you'll still get presents" his mother reassured him "but Santa is just like the Tooth fairy or mermaids or fairies. They're not real."

"But Nanny said…..!"

"Well Nanny lied" his mother told him sternly "and the sooner you learn that people who tell silly fairy stories can't be trusted the better off you'll be" And with that his mother left his bedside and moved away "One day though you'll be a great businessman like you father and you will run his company. Isn't that better than any silly story?"

"Yes mommy" Kai nodded sniffing a little

"Money and power is all that matters in this world Kai, money is what brought you all the lovely things you have and power is how your father was able to earn his money. So just remember that, money and power"

The lights went out leaving the young boy to ponder on what his mother had said.

Money and Power?

--

At the age of twenty five Kai was considered one of the most eligible bachelors in the world, his father had made him a CEO of the Russian branch of Hiwatari enterprises. It was a well known fact that as soon Kai's father died or decided to retire he would take over the whole company. If only he had a superhero identity he would have been compared to Bruce Wayne.

Sometimes Kai was thrilled with his life, he was wealthy, he was attractive, he was intelligent and incredibly cultured. The only complaint anyone ever had about Kai was his cynicism, thanks to his emotionally stunted upbringing he was unable to be completely happy. He had never had that childlike naivety most people experienced and so was unable to understand how other people could be so trusting. He also never understood why some people had a need to help others, he had no problem passing homeless people on the street and couldn't remember ever having the wish to do something for someone else.

Of course these things never bothered the tall bluenette, he was relatively happy all things considered. He had a group of friends none of them as wealthy as him but none of them had a bank account that dipped below seven figures. Still for the most part he was aware of his wish to be with company, he had never liked to be alone. He had friends around for ridiculously expensive parties on the major holidays and when he was at home it wasn't hard to make sure he didn't sleep alone. Still, for all his friends and girlfriends he often felt intensely alone, lonely.

Yes lonely was the best way to describe the older Kai Hiwatari

--

--

--

Sitting in his office Kai frowned, Tala was lying on the couch that Kai used to nap on when he stayed at the office to late, or when he found an assistant attractive. Getting up and moving away from his desk Kai walked over to the couch and kicked at his friend.

"Get up you dumbass" Kai hissed angrily

"Never" was the groaning response

Childhood friend Tala had been his best friend from boarding school, St Andrews the boarding school they had attended was tough and you needed someone who had your back. If a fight starttd out it was Tala and Kai you wanted on your side because if they were against you it wouldn't be pretty.

Nowadays of course he and Tala had each others backs in a different way, together they would go to bars to pick up girls and when one needed to ditch a partner the other would help deliver the news. It was a perfect system… or at least it had been until recently.

Tala had met an amazing girl in a bar and for once said girl had shown no interest in the attractive redhead. For some reason Tala had been unable to move on, he had constantly moaned and complained about how he was unable to be with the girl and he needed to see again.

"Look you kow who she is just do what you normally do."

"Not this time" Tala weakly raised his head to shake it "I need to win her fair and square. I think I love her. I won't have someone follow her around to find out all about her"

Annoyed with his friend Kai sighed, normally the way he or Tala would pursue a difficult girl was to hire an investigator, find out who she was and then lie and cheat until the girl gave in. It was a simple life really, fun and without any real responsibility. Of course usually after they finally got what they wanted the girl would be tossed aside but that was an obvious inevitability, when you're as rich as they were you learnt that girls were only after one thing, money. They had learnt this lesson the hard way and after being burned a few times they were ready to fight fire with fire.

Unfortunately their status quo was now endangered, Tala was talking about love.

"Oh come on" Kai muttered to himself how could Tala be spouting this rubbish, they had both learnt in their teens that girls only came after them for two things, their looks and their money. "Tala it's just an act"

"No" Tala sat up grumpily "she really doesn't care about money"

"Says who…? Her?"

"Everyone who knows her, besides she already has a seven figure salary"

Kai smirked so much for not finding out everything about her "So your getting her fair and square?"

"I just found out a few things, that's all" Tala huffed and folded his arm across his chest

Kai smirked at his frined suggesting "Maybe she's just not into guys?"

"No I wondered that, she's straight"

"Maybe she just thinks your unattractive?"

"No!" Tala sat up indignantly shooting an angry look at his so called friend "Anyway she admitted to a friend she thought I was hot"

"You've been listening to her conversations?" Kai was surprised it was unusual for one of them to stoop that low.

"Well….just her phone ones….I had to" Tala moaned "she just didn't respond to anything"

"So she thinks your 'hot' whats the problem?"

"I dunno….but I do know one thing!" Tala looked up excitedly his eyes sparkling

"Whats that?"

"She and a friend of hers are going to a gallery opening"

"And you know this because she told you or because of her phone conversations?"

"_Phone conversation_s" Tala mumbled his response so quietly that Kai almost didn't hear it but in truth he didn't need to hear it, he knew the answer.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Well I thought" Tala gave his friend a sheepish grin "if we went, you could distract the friedn and I could…" his voice took on a begging tone and if there was one thing Kai despised it was being begged

"Fine" Kai answered him readily enough, he had worse things to do than attend a gallery opening and if this girls friend was hot he wouldn't be too bothered about spending time with her. "But really I wish you'd just get over her!"

"You are the best friend a guy could ever…."

"I know, now get out and go do something useful. Maybe go and see how your company is doing"

"Whatever you say boss." and with that a very happy Tala left the room

--

Dressed in his tuxedo Kai stood champagne glass in hand listening with slight interest to what the guide standgin in the cente of the room was saying. He had leanrt all this before but it was always nice to be able to nod knowingly and watch as he got admiring glances from the surrounding people.

"And so we brought this exhibition together, with these great and famous pieces we can show how the impressionist era took its affect forming some of the greatest artists known to man, Monet, Leroy, Pissarro…"

"There she is" Tala hissed to Kai directing his attention to the pinkette and the girl with aquamarine hair that had just walked in

Looking appraisingly at them Kai instantly recognised the pinkette as the girl from the bar the other night. She wore a black cocktail dress and turned down the offered champagne in exchange for juice. Her friend wear a similar dress but in navy blue as she accepted the drink with a nod and a slight giggle

'Oh god!' Kai thought to himself 'she's a giggler!'

"Lets go over" Tala hissed

"No" Kai shook his head "don't look at her, don't look around pretend to listen to the person talking. That way she'll see you and she'll be impressed your just here!"

"Oh yeah I remember!" Tala nodded like an obedient schoolchild "and then when she's looking at the pictures I 'accidentally' bump into her!"

"Exactly" Kai nodded, it had been a while since they had used a gallery to pick up girls, it was hard to remember the rules for these things.

--

Tala edged carefully around the room, he had kept the girl in his sights ever since she had entered. He had taken a quick note of the route she was taking and then ensconced himself in front of one of the Renoir's looking at ut carefully.

Standing next to Tala Kai tried to determine how long it would take for the two girls to come over, he was getting a little bored now, his 'date' for the evening looked good but he seriously doubted she knew anything about art. There was nothing worse than a girl pretending to care about art, literature or music. This would be a long night.

Finally the two girls stopped at the picture next to them and Kai noticed the slight blush on the girls face as she saw who was standing near to her. With a causality that Kai couldn't help but admire Tala took a slight sip from his glas and then switched his attention onto the next picture. As he did this he 'noticed' the pink haired girl and gave her a slight smile.

Blushing prettily the pink haired girl smiled back and shifted her gaze to the floor, Kai sighed, this would be a very long night.

Moving next to Tala Kai said aloud "Cezanne, but not one of his best peices"

"I like it" Tala odded looking at it studiously "of course I suppose watercolour wasn't his usual medium"

"A boring piece" and with that Kai moved on

Tala stood just him and the two girls, after a few seconds the girl with aquamarine hair moved away but the pinkette shook her head and remained standing by the picture

"Do you think it's boring?" Tala asked looking down at the girl beside him

"I thinks its interesting" the girl looked at him blshing a little "he didn't work in water colour a lot and I like it"

"Me too, my names Tala Ivanov" he knew her name thanks to his investigator but he couldn't exactly let her know that!

"I know" the girl looked down at the floor nervously "we've met before at that bar, and that club. I don't know if you remember….?"

"I remember but you wouldn't tell me your name so I hoped that by telling you my name again it might segue neatly into you telling me that your name is…." he paused to allow her to tell him who she was

Shyly the girl bowed her head and whispered "Mariah, Mariah Wong" she looked up at him flashing him a smile

"A lovely name"

"Thank you" she blushed again looking down at the floor before looking back up at the picture.

Kai could see that his friend was finally making progress with his latest 'crush', he watched the two of them with interest. Tala did seem to be acting differently with her. Then Kai saw it, the friend, that blue haired giggling idiot was about to make her way back over to where her frined and Tala stood flirting. He'd have to make a move…and quick

Kai grabbed an exrtra glass of champagne and quikly moved forward to cut in before the 'giggler' could interrupt Tala.

"So!" Kai presented his spare glass to the 'giggler' "do you find all this interesting or are you as bored as I am?" As usual Kai had found the right thing to say and before he knew it the 'giggler' was predictably giggling.

--

"I swear Tala if I have to see her one more time" Kai hissed down the phone

It had been just over a week since the art gallery and Tala was still loved up with Mariah and Kai was getting increasingly frustrated with Ming Ming her friend from the gallery

"Just one more week" Tala pleaded "she loves double dating with you two"

"I don't know why" Kai growled angrily, he had been as annoying as possible in an attempt to make Ming Ming dislike him but for some reason the girl didn't seem to notice and she just kept on hanging around! "God I wish I hadn't gotten into this!"

Just then his secretary looked around the door nervously "Um Sir?"

Bored by the interrruption Kai gave the woman a cold glare "Yes?"

"Ming Ming is here to see you"

At the other end of the phone Kai heard Tala snort, without a word of farewell to his friend Kai hung up.

"Let her come through" Kai sighed, one week. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad

"Hi sweetie"

"Oh God" Kai muttered under his breath he'd forgotten how annoying her voice was, he wondered if he was feeling a little sick.

"What was that?" she asked tilting her head to one side and smiling

"Nothing….sweetie" 'Now I feel sick' Kai thought to himself.

"Aw" Ming Ming moved around the desk to drop a kiss on his cheek.

It was then that Kai noticed that his 'girlfriend' had a rather large bag on one arm

"What have you got there?" he asked curious despite of himself

"Oh just somethings that I fiund in this incredibly cute shop that I thought would be perfect to give your office a more exotic feel"

'SCREW TALA! DUMP HER! DUMP HER! DUMP HER! **DUMP HER!**'

"Isn't this frame just the cutest?"

"Almost as cute as you" he said sincerely, Ming Ming blushed appreciatively pretending to be shy and embarrassed

"Well you can have it on your desk and this lamp!" she pulled out an old fashioned mteal lamp, personally Kai thought it loked like a watering can but he nodded appreciatively

"Of course I can't really see me using an old oil lamp anytime soon" he told her prosaically

"No silly" she gave him a playful shove…. God Kai hated playful shoves! "you just have it as an ornament"

"You really ought to let me pay for these" Kai told her

"They're gifts" she told him "I brought them for you!"

"Right" Kai nodded but he had made a rule years aog never to just accept gifts witout doing something oin return. He had had a bad experience once when an ex had shown up at the office to take back all the 'gifts' she had given him. After that Kai had always ensured that a gift that was given to him was somehow paid for. If not with mney then with seomthing equally expensive.

He poicked up the lamp again nodding appreciatively as he gave it a polish with his cuff, it really was a nice piece.

"You like it?" she squealed happily

"I sure do" Kai nodded putting the iem down onto the desk. "but if you've given me a present I must give you one"

"Oh no" she shook her head "that's not how gifts work"

"Oh really?" he shook his head pretending to look upset "and I was thinking of us getting you a nice necklace and maybe spending some time in" He paused before he said the magic word, the word that made all gilrs act like children in a candy store "Tiffany's!"

"Oh Kai!" she threw her arms around his neck "I'd love to!"

'Of course you would'

--

It had been just over two weeks since he had broken up with Ming Ming, the girl had appeared broken hearted but she cheered up immensely when he refused to take back the matching diamond necklace bracelet and earrings he had brought her.

Luckily enough ther break up hadn't destroyed anything and Tala was still happily dating Mariah. Kai missed his nights out with Tala but he was beginning to readly understand why Tala was so happy, Mariah seemed like a decent girl and she was always willing to come to social events and she had a quick wit and the three of them usually had a good time.

It was as Kai was musing over the ways things were working out for his friedn that he realised he was missing something

"Damn"

He had forgotten one of his files, one of the deals he was considering at the moment centred on a big meeting today nad he had left the file at home. The meeting started in tweny minutes and he had no time to run home himself, he would have to send a courier and try to delay the meeting without seeming rude. He would have to make conversation!

This plan combined the two things that Kai hated most in the world, someone else going thorugh his things and unnecessary chit chat.

"God I wish I had that folder here" throwing himself down into his chair he picked up the phone to call for his secratary

"Sir?" out of what seemed like nowhere to Kai a young brunette appeared in his office, she was holding something in her arms

"Yes?" he snapped angrily

"I believe this is your's?" looking at the object in her arms he gasped, he recognised it, it was the folder he thought he had forgotten.

"Where in the hell did you get that?" he asked in utter disbelief

"I found it on a table top" the girl shrugged

Slightly suspicious Kai eyed the brunette as she stood as though awaiting instructions, she wore a simple white shirt that accentuated her lean figure beautifully and a black pencil skirt, it was very traditional but the way her hair was tied neatly to one side in a side ponytail made her look fascinatingly different. Normally people around the office wore black and white but their hairstyles were conservative as was their footwear. Looking at the girls feet he grinned, the heels she wore were bright purple and as he looked up he noticed purple earrings hanging from her ears.

It seemed strange to him that he would have a beauty such as this wandering around the office and not even know it but then again maybe she worked at one of the lower levels. As he viewed her he smirked, she didn't seem even the slightest bit nervous at his obvious appraisal of her looks.

"Will there be anything else sir?" she asked politely holding out the file and placing it into his hands.

For a split second he was tempted to ask her to stay but then he remembered his stupid business meeting, he had to go "No, not now, you can go" Kai informed her, the young girl then bowed politely and walked out of his office.

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Ok this fic is very different from my usual ones and it needs a little time and work, the second chapter gets a little more interesting

Please R&R


	2. Chapter 2

Once more this is dedicated to ari dark princess!

I do not own Beyblade! Or the plot! So nothing is mine here!!

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It was well after 10:00 pm and Kai was still in his office working, recently there had been a lot of uncertainty in the stock market and the global credit crunch was starting to affect his business. The last thing Kai wanted was to lay people off but there was something else preying on his mind that was making it even harder to work. Kai couldn't stop thinking about the girl that had entered the office the other day, she had seemed so different. She had been a breath of fresh air and considering how dull and constant his days had become recently he felt the need to have her come back. Enquiring casually around the office had elicited absolutely no information about the mysterious girl, of course it didn't help that he knew practically nothing about her. But then there were people he could hire to do that for him.

He sat back carefully considering the situation, he had not seen the girl around the office but he knew that they didn't have any temps working with them recently.

"Kai?"

"Tala" Kai looked up surprised, he hadn't even noticed his friend enter the office he had been so lost in thought. "Hi"

"Hi?" Tala stared at the normally aware man behind his desk "That's all I get after knocking on the door for like five minutes and getting no response?"

"Sorry" Kai shook his head "I've got a lot on my mind"

"Like what?"

For a split second Kai considered telling Tala about the mysterious girl but then he remembered how he had goaded Tala when he was crazy about the unknown Mariah and decided against it. The last thing Tala needed was more ammo to have a go at Kai!

"Nothing, it's late, what are you doing here at this hour?"

"I was passing by and noticed that your office was still lit up, I thought I'd just came to see if you're ok and if you're coming to the opera with Mariah and I next week" Tala gave him a hopeful grin, he wasn't a big fan of the opera but Mariah was and Tala would drag Kai along so that he had some sensible conversation during the intermission, Mariah seemed to know everyone at the opera and often left Tala at the bar as she ran off to see an old friend.

"Why are you even going? You hate the opera"

"Mariah loves it" Tala spoke as though it was as simple as that, if Mariah loved it he would go to it. It had been over a month since Tala and Mariah had their first date but they were still a very devoted couple and Tala would do pretty much anything that Mariah asked him to. "And if you want you can join us for dinner before I'm making pasta"

"You're so whipped" Kai told him sounding very amused, in truth he was actually pleased for his friend. It was nice that at least one of them was on the road to happiness!

"Yeah and I love it!" Tala grinned being entirely truthful

Kai sighed, he didn't really feel like going but it was obvious that Tala wanted him to come so he nodded "Sure I'll be there"

"Great, oh by the way Mariah has an extra ticket so if you want to bring a date you can, bring her to dinner as well!"

"Gee thanks" Kai murmured sarcastically. There was only one person he could imagine taking, in fact he really could imagine her, all dressed up in a beautiful dress. God he was losing it!

The sarcastic tonewas not lost on Tala and he gave Kai an odd look "Come to think of it you haven't had many dates recently. Is everything ok?"

"Aw, are you getting concerned about my love life?" Kai spoke mockingly but Tala wasn't fooled, he paused before leaving.

"Something's up..." he stared intently at his friend for a moment and then suddenly realising something he broke into a grin "I know what it is...you **like** someone."

"No I don't"

"Oh my god you do, you actually like a girl and I mean really like her...I'm guessing it's a girl right?!"

Itching to punch his friend Kai muttered through gritted teeth "Get the hellout Tala!"

Laughing Tala walked over to the door "Ok I'm going…lover boy" still laughing the redhead exited the room and closed the door behind him.

Annoyed at this development Kai frowned down at his papers, he didn't like this girl he was attracted to her that's all. It was a simple case of lust and fascination there was no love or like involved. Left alone in his deserted offices Kai sighed, he was beginning to feel tired and hungry, thinking about Chinese food he muttered under his breath "God I wish I had something to eat"

He was just packing up his papers when there was a timid knock on his office door, unsure as to who would be in the office this late Kai was careful to move close to his security alarm before calling "Come in"

The door opened and there she was, the slim brunette that had been in his mind ever since she had first arrived at his door just over a week ago.

"You" He stared at her in complete amazement, then a thought occurred to him "what are you doing here?"

"I've brought you something to eat" was the simple reply and that was when Kai noticed the bag hanging from her arm "Are you not hungry?"

"I'm very hungry" he replied and was rewarded with a wide smile.

He watched as the girl walked towards the coffee table in his office, she wore a dark pinstriped tailored jacket and trousers, once again she was in normal office wear but once again she also stood out. Under the dark jacket was a bright yellow shirt that matched her vibrant yellow sandals. Her hair was hanging around her face making it harder for him to see the jewellery she wore but on close inspection he noticed that it was silver and black this time.

She seemed aware of his scrutiny and blushed a little, she had set out an arrangement of Chinese take away dishes and he watched amused as she finished setting out the meal and moved away as though awaiting instructions.

"Is there anything else you'll be needing?" she asked politely

"N…" Kai stopped himself before he responded negatively, she just stood there awaiting his answer, smirking he decided that he'd find out about her "I'd like some company. There's more than enough here for two, care to join me?"

This seemed to throw the girl, she shook her head "There's only one plate"

"Not a problem" Kai walked over to the cabinet situated on the left hand side of the office, he had a number of everyday things in the cabinet that he had found himself needing when he spent a night in his office. He returned to the table with two bottles of beer, cutlery and the necessary plate.

His actions obviously amused the girl but after regarding him carefully she nodded "Alright"

She sat nervously on the edge of his couch while he lounged back feeling totally at ease as he helped himself to chow mein and spring rolls.

After Kai had taken what he wanted the girl took a small spoonful of the rice and black bean sauce. She was obviously nervous as she took small bite of her food, Kai was quite content to just watch her for a little while but then he remembered the many questions that he had wanted to ask her recently so sitting forward he got her attention.

"What's you name?" It was a basic question but he had to start somewhere

"Um…Hilary" the girl swallowed a mouthful of food "My names Hilary"

"Hilary" Kai nodded "it suits you"

"Thank you"

"I take it you know my name?"

"You're Kai, Kai Hiwatari"

"I am… so Hilary how long have you worked for me?"

"Not long" she was vague, she seemed to want avoid answering his questions "I am…I'm pretty new"

"It's strange that I've never met you…I mean, I haven't seen you around much" Kai told her reaching for some sweet and sour sauce

"You know all your employees by sight? Considering how many people work here I'm very surprised" She had a slight smirk as she said this and Kai smiled

"Good point…but I normally notice the pretty ones"

"How insulting to all those you haven't noticed, and if I had been working here for years and you haven't noticed me before I think I would be very insulted" she laughed a little and turned to face him folding her legs on the sofa and resting her plate on her lap. "Don't worry though I won't tell them you said that"

Watching her closely Kai was surprised at how mature she seemed compared to how young she looked "How old are you?"

"Now that's something you shouldn't really ask a girl, but as you're my boss I'll forgive you. I'm…." she paused

"You don't know?"

"It's hard to keep track sometimes…I'm 21 and a half…." she seemed to be thinking about it as she told him, as though counting off the years in her head

"21?"

"Um….yes" she nodded seemingly relieved that he had interrupted her "is there a problem with that?"

"No you just look so young, I would have said you were still about eighteen"

"Well that's a compliment all girls love to hear" she smiled but he noticed that she looked a little rueful as she said it

"I've offended you?" He cocked his head curiously to one side, there was an odd look in her eyes but she seemed to shake off the look he was giving her. He continued to stare "Are you insulted by what I said?"

"What? No!" she laughed again, that ready laugh that seemed to spring to her lips with real ease "It's just when you look young people don't take you seriously. Especially in my line of work" this last bit was said more to herself than to him and it made him curious

"What do you mean in your line of work?" he frowned as he contemplated "People don't take you seriously in the office?"

She seemed nervous again as she shrugged, this time her laugh was not a natural "Um...well you wouldn't know but when you're the youngest in the office you make a lot of cups of tea"

Kai nodded understandingly but he got the feeling that she wasn't telling him the whole truth. He decided that she didn't like discussing her private life with her boss and so, happy that he had gotten a few answers he turned the discussion onto more easy subjects. He was surprised but pleased to discover that she had real opinions on what was going on around the world, she had a knowledge of economics and it was interesting to discuss things with her. She was also very well-informed on her history and the two of them had a long conversation about past recessions and depressions.

It amazed Kai how willing she was to talk about potentially boring subjects, he was also amazed by how much humour she managed to pour into the discussion. They spent a lot of time laughing and before Kai knew what was happening it was morning and people were coming into work.

"You ought to get home and have some rest" Hilary spoke with real concern as she noticed how tired Kai looked

"So should you" Kai told her but he noticed that she showed no signs of sleep deprivation. In fact she looked wide awake. She looked as thoguh she had just had a goodnights sleep and a shower to wake her up, it was almost magical how good she looked.

"I'm fine" she told him but looking out of the window at the bright sky outside she smiled "but I ought to go. Can't hang around all day with you. I do need some rest" she stood and stretched a little her back was aching from sitting in pretty much the same position all night.

"Are you here everyday?" Kai asked not really wanting to let her go

"Pretty much...I'm...I'm around" she told him with a gentle smile "you just need to say the right words and look in the right place!"

"What the hell does that mean?" Kai furrowed his brow a little annoyed with the vague answer to his question

Laughing she looked back at him "You'll work it out in time. Good morning sir" and bowing she turned and walked out of the office.

Completely bemused Kai watched her go, it wasn't until she had left his office that he realised he hadn't been able to find out her full name or her phone number or anything that he really wanted to know.

* * *

Please R&R


	3. Chapter 3

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Thanks for reviewing everyone!!

I own nothing here!!! Not the plot, not the characters nothing!!

Dedicated to ari dark princess!!!

* * *

Mariah carefully added spice to the pan she had over the stove stirring them in carefully, turning she called "Have you picked a wine?"

"I got a nice red" Tala offered walking into the kitchen holding a bottle in one hand and staring at the label. "Cabernet Sauvignon alright?"

"Perfect" Mariah smiled at the redhead as he opened up the cutlery drawer and pulled out a corkscrew. She watched him as he opened the wine and poured the red liquid into one of the glasses she had taken from the cupboard. She was so busy watching him that she didn't notice the food begin to burn until the smell reached her nostrils "Oh! Damn it!"

Grabbing the pan off the heat Mariah looked down at the ruined food and sighed.

"So I guess I ought to call the pizza place?" Tala teased smiling at his girlfriends disgruntled face. He pulled her phone from the wall and dialled ordering their favourite pizza. After he had hung up he turned back to her smiling "Now I don't get a taste of your superior cooking skills!"

Glowering as she threw the ruined food into the bin Mariah turned back top face Tala "Shut up! This is all your fault anyway"

"How do you figure that?" he asked feeling insulted

"Well if you weren't so damn sexy" Mariah told him smiling seductively "I wouldn't have been watching you and got distracted thus ruining the dinner" she walked forward and Tala opened his arms so that she could walk into them.

"I am so sorry" Tala apologised "How can I make it up to you?"

"I'll think of something" she kissed him lightly on the lips then pulled away

"Hey we got at least thirty minutes till the pizza gets here!" Tala complained pulling her back into his arms.

Laughing Mariah allowed Tala to kiss her but she shook her head as he started to move to kiss her leg "Uh uh" she wriggled out of his grasp "I want a drink and I'm still making desert"

"Fine" Tala moaned "I was just looking forward to having a little desert before dinner"

"God you're cheesy sometimes" Mariah moved back to the stove where a summer fruits sauce was warming to simmering point. "Sometimes it's a no brainer why you and Kai stayed playboy bachelors for so long"

"Oh yeah about Kai" cheering up and taking a sip of wine Tala moved to sit on the kitchen counter, his eyes took on the glint of a girl with some good gossip.

"Don't sit there" Mariah nagged but didn't complain when he made no move "What about him?"

"I visited him last night and he was acting odd, the thing is Kai likes someone"

"That's all?" she asked surprised

"No I mean, he **really **likes someone!" Tala reiterated his point gesticulating with his hands in his attempt to get his point across

"Great, you pass it around the class I'll tell the girls in the playground!" Mariah laughed teasingly "Come on Tala what are we thirteen? So he likes someone? That's nothing"

"No you don't understand!" Tala muttered "You see Kai and I…well we used to… we just lusted after girls, we never really cared about the person"

"This makes me feel so good!" Mariah furrowed her brow

"No" Tala realised that he had said the wrong thing "No, No, No! You changed that for me, I liked you for you, you were the first girl that I didn't just think she's hot.…" Again Mariah gave him an annoyed look "No! I knew you were hot, you are hot! But you made me laugh and…I didn't just see you as a hot girl but someone I could sleep with... I mean spend time with" He realised that she was still looking a bit annoyed "I'm digging a hole and I don't think I'm getting out" the depressed man shook his head. "Should I just go or are you gonna hit me first?"

Mariah laughed "Tala I knew what you're reputation was, that's why I was cautious, but I liked you despite that and" walking forward she put a hand on his cheek "I understand what you were trying to say. You've never had a real relationship before have you?"

"No" the response was a mumble but it made Mariah smile

"So I get what you mean, I really like spending time with you too"

"Really?" Tala looked up happy to see her smiling at him

"Yes" she kissed him on the cheek before moving back to the stove "now what were you saying about Kai?"

"Well he hasn't had any dates recently, and when I told him he could bring a date to the opera he looked put out. As though I was forcing him to do something he didn't want to." Now I know Kai better than anyone…I know him better than he knows himself. There's someone he likes and he can't get her" Tala paused thinking for a moment "The thing is…I don't know how to help him with this."

"Maybe he can find an art gallery that she's going to and follow her there!" Mariah teased

"Yeah but he'd need me there to chat up her friend so he'd get her alone" Tala responded laughing. It had all come out how he'd chased her around but after a big argument the two of them had made up and Mariah had been able to forgive him and move on. The only problem with this situation was that now whenever Mariah wanted to tease him she had plenty of ammunition!

"So who's the girl?" Mariah asked interested as she returned to the stove stirring the sauce

"I don't know he didn't say, but then I didn't really ask…." Tala frowned "Kai doesn't like to give too much away, I didn't think it would be good to ask straight away"

"Well maybe you can find out and secretly invite her to the opera!"

"Good plan, how did I get a girl as smart as you to agree to go out with me?"

"Well you hired someone to find out all about me…TALA!!!" Mariah broke off into giggles as Tala tackled her from behind tickling her mercilessly.

--

Kai was beginning to get restless, over the last two days he had been trying to get the beautiful brunette out of his head but to no avail! It wouldn't be so bad if he knew how to get hold of her but she hadn't exactly been forthcoming with her contact details.

The worst thing about all this though was the fact that he couldn't be as aggressive as he'd like to be in finding her. If he started going through the office and actively searching for her it would bring about a huge amount of suspicion and an office romance would cause problems among the staff. The annoying thing was that she had turned up twice without any rhyme or reason and now he wanted her to be here she hadn't appeared in over two days.

"Sir?"

"Hm?" Kai looked up to find his secretary standing before him "What was that Ms. Heyer?"

"I was just enquiring about the fundraiser?" Ms. Heyer (Kai wasn't sure if she had another name, everyone called her Ms. Heyer) was a hard working determined woman and when Kai had first started working here she had been the only one able to keep his mind on his job, she was only fifteen years older than Kai but she had a way of mothering him that he had at first found amusing and now when things were tough he found almost comforting. "Are you going to pay attention to me today?"

"Sorry, lets start again!"

"Right" she spoke slowly now as though addressing a small child "…the… fund…. raiser"

"Oh yes" Kai shook his head annoyed, every year his father had the company throw a large benefit for whatever charity happened to be popular at the time. It was an easy tax break and made his company look good so Kai was always willing to attend even though he didn't really care. "Who are we raising money for this time?"

"It's cancer research." she told him holding out a booklet "everything you need to know about the charity is in there. The guest list is here…" she handed over a file "I've added Tala's girlfriend Mariah to his invitation…. Are you sure they'll still be together? It's two weeks away."

"Yeah" Kai smirked, Tala's reputation was so bad even Kai's secretary doubted his staying power

"Ok…" The lady looked down at her notes "ah yes…it's a black and white ball so I've arranged for you to go get your tuxedo fitted the day after tomorrow... I know you already have a tux but your father is insisting that you get a new one. On that note… Both your parents will be attending…"

"Both?" Kai looked up surprised, it was rare that both of his parents were in the same country as each other never mind the same room "Are you sure about that?"

"Positive" she gave him a nervous smile "actually they'll be in town for a few days before and your father is determined that all three if you will be together for a few days"

"Hell no!" Kai shook his head, the last time his family had been together for more than a few hours it had resulted in a huge argument where a lot of family secrets that he didn't need to know came to light.

"I'm sorry sir but your father is insisting that you stay at the family home"

"Insisting? How can he insist that?"

"Well you either go or he…" she trailed off nervously, she really hated getting involved in the mess that was the Hiwatari family.

Kai felt sorry for the woman in front of him, she had worked for him for years, she had witnessed first hand some of the arguments that could happen and Kai could guess what his father had told her to say. Despite a slightly tough exterior Ms. Heyer was a sweet woman and she wouldn't want to say what she had to "Let me guess. Either I go or he cuts me out of his will?"

"I'm afraid so" Ms. Heyer nodded apologetically

"Fine, call him get the details of when I need to be there and then call my maid at the apartment tell her what's happening and when she'll need everything packed for. Oh and could you tell her that I won't be home again tonight? so if she could just lock up when she's done…"

"Is that wise? You've been here for three nights straight!"

"I'll be fine" Truth be told Kai was hanging around hoping that Hilary would appear again

"Very well" she nodded feeling resigned, looking back down at her notes she frowned "Oh yes there's an emergency meeting tomorrow lunch time with the accountancy department. They want to look into cutbacks, they need your approval." She handed over another file and her distaste was obvious, whatever the 'cutbacks' were Kai doubted they were pleasant "this covers all they want to discuss. And that's it for me, I'm going to go home, unless there's something else you want to know about?"

"Actually there is" Kai paused before asking "do you.... do you know any Hilarys working in these offices?"

"Hilarys?"

"Yes… you know… girls called Hilary?"

"Um... theres two that I know of"

"She's a brunette 21 looks younger though"

There was a short silence as the woman tried to think about his question but soon she was shaking her head "None that I know of, the only Hilary's know working here are older than that, I don't recognise the description either. Maybe she's a temp, we get quite a few temps in when we're organising the fundraiser, is there a problem?"

"No! No problem" Kai shook his head "Doesn't matter! Never mind, you get home"

Curious but tired Ms Heyer decided to let it go and she simply turned and headed for the door "Good night sir."

Left alone Kai decided that it would be best if he got on with some work, he sifted through the pile ion his desk. The fund-raiser stuff could wait so he chucked that into his brief case to be looked through next time he got home. He moved onto the file for tomorrows meeting, whatever was inside was obviously delicate information because it had enough 'private' labels on it to actually cover what colour the file usually was.

Opening it he soon realised why Ms Heyer had looked so annoyed as she had handed it over, the cutbacks consisted of budgeting where they need more expenditure, firing where they should be hiring and loss of overtime pay when they were asking people to do more hours.

It was going to be a long night!

* * *

Not much Hil here but she has lots to do in the next chapter so read that!!

Um…thanks to all my reviewers so far and please review again!!!


	4. Chapter 4

I do not own beyblade, and I really wish the spell check would stop trying to correct the word beyblade into be blade!! I added it but it just goes back to normal!!

Dedicated to Ari dark princess.

* * *

Cutbacks.

Every company has cutbacks at some point but it angered Kai that the cutbacks here were going to be employees. He hated firing people it was one of the few times that he actually thought about the welfare of other people. He hated to see someone's face fall as they realise they are being let go.

You see what Kai hated was people who didn't try to work, he assumed that people that begged or depended on charity or the government didn't bother to try (ok it's true in some cases). He respected people that worked, even people that were the lowest of the low on the career ladder deserved respect in his eyes because they were working. In his eyes to take away their work was to take away respect due to them.

He found it hard to believe that they really needed to fire over fifty people.

Looking through the papers he realised that the budget before him did make sense. Of course it was seven in the morning and he'd only slept about five hours. At this point in time almost anything could make sense.

"Damn it" he muttered throwing down his pen "I wish I could work out a way around this"

He was about to bury himself back into his work when there was a knock at his door

"Come in"

"Hello" Kai's head snapped up

"You again"

"Yeah" she smiled at him, that dazzling smile that made him smile with an unfamiliar ease.

There was a short silence as Kai stared at her appreciating her presence, finally he realised that he ought to say something "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to give you a hand with your work…unless you don't want one?"

"No! No…. I need help" Kai admitted disconsolately "but I don't see any way around all this"

"Well what's the problem?" she pulled up a chair and sat opposite him smiling kindly from across the desk.

Appreciating her simple readiness to help Kai was willing to pass over the papers. He watched as she started to look through the figures. Once more she wore a simple outfit that suited the office work he assumed she was doing but as usual there was a vibrancy and perfection to her outfit that would make her stand out. Her suit was a matching black jacket and skirt but her shirt underneath was a bright pink, her hair twisted up perfectly as though it had been professionally done just moments before and flowery pink jewellery matched everything perfectly. He had begun to enjoy seeing her outfits, they always matched perfectly from her hair right down to her feet… suddenly curious he leant to the side to get a look at her shoes they were heels, flowered in black and pink…

"Mr Hiwatari?"

He sat up straight again blushing lightly, from the look on her face it was obvious she assumed he had been looking at her legs not her shoes…of course as a straight male he was more than willing to allow her to think that. Telling her he was looking at her shoes was even more embarrassing, letting her think he liked her legs…well he did like her legs. Damn he was losing his concentration again!

"Sorry did you say something?" he gave her a weak smile

"Yes… I was pointing out one of your expenses" Hilary pointed down the sheet of paper "here you're spending money when it is clearly not necessary and I hate to point it out but your board of executives are all getting a raise. If you kept their pay at the current level you could afford to keep on the workers your considering firing. Here you're operating one of your organisations at a slight loss, if you were to consider… sorry I'm going off on one here" she giggled trailing off

"No" Kai shook his head feeling amused "keep going"

"OK, well see this department, the one in charge of your merchandising…shop etc."

"Yeah"

"Well it's suffering losses at the moment because people are spending less. Your shops are more upmarket and expensive. If you were to consider remerchandising or remarketing you could change that."

"Ok" Kai nodded understandingly "but that's not the only problem, they're refusing to issue overtime but are insisting on making people work longer hours."

"Well that's actually against the employees contracts. If you look at section thirteen of the contracts they are entitled to only the stated amount of hours, anything else is overtime. And it's against the law to work a certain amount of hours a week, it's unhealthy, people can get around it but if your company want to stay within the confines of the law, and if anyone on the board says they don't then they'll be in trouble"

Kai laughed "yeah that's one way of putting it, how come you manage to make everything seem so simple? I've been looking at this for hours"

"It's just logic, don't look at everything at once look at it all one bit at a time."

The continued to talk along this vein for sometime, the stirrings outside the door indicated that other people were arriving but Kai knew that he still had plenty of time on his hands and he didn't really want his time with Hilary, God only knew when she'd show up again.

"Yo KAI!" Tala poked his head through the door not bothering to knock before intruding on his friend "Oh I had no idea you'd be _busy. _Hi I'm Tala… Kai didn't tell me he had a new girlfriend"

"Tala" Kai ground out the name through gritted teeth, Hilary on the other hand laughed and turned to face the redhead.

"Don't worry I ought to get going now anyway"

"No! No!" Tala gave a leering grin as he looked Hilary up and down "I'd hate to interrupt anything **important**!"

"What are we interrupting?" Mariah asked following her boyfriend through the door, she gave Kai and large smile and on spotting Hilary her smile widened. Somehow she immediately recognised Hilary as the girl Tala thought Kai 'liked' "Oh! Hi! My names Mariah"

"Hilary" the brunette walked forward and shook hands with the pink haired girl "nice to meet you"

"Nice to meet you too" Mariah gave the girl a smile that made Hilary feel more than a little nervous

"Right…." Hilary could feel a lot of tension in the air and decided to get out of the room "well I ought to go… good luck at your meeting today sir." With a small bow Hilary swiftly made her way to the door and left before anyone could stop her.

Mariah and Tala watched the brunette leave and then turned back to face Kai…. Well to put it nicely he looked furious.

"Kai?" Tala felt nervous and ducked behind his girlfriend "um…. I guess we did interrupt something"

"Big baby" Mariah muttered "What's the big deal? Just find her later"

"I can't find her later… I have meetings pretty much all day, and they're not going to be good ones given the decisions I've just made… with her help actually… and I have no idea who she is or what department she's working in."

"Just ask" Mariah told him annoyed at his stupidity

"Who… her? She doesn't tell me anything straight out, if I ask around the office then people will talk and if it gets back to my father that I'm having an office romance he'll be on my case so badly I won't have any chance to see her at all"

"Wow you really do like her" Tala muttered poking his head out from behind his own girl

Both Mariah and Kai glared at the redhead before simultaneously hissing "Shut up Tala"

Mariah grinned before looking back at Kai and taking Hilary's recently vacated seat "Look we're just here because Tala says he has bad news for you"

"Bad news?" Kai looked over at his friend curiously

"My mother's been in touch with yours and apparently your mother is coming to visit…"

"Well thanks for the heads up but I already knew that she was coming"

"Yeah but did you know she's bringing your aunt Svetlana?"

"What?" Kai walked around his desk and took hold of his friends shirt collar and held him up threateningly "Tell me you are kidding."

"'fraid not" Tala told him cheerfully not feeling at all worried about Kai's threatening behaviour, it was when Kai sat doing nothing that you needed to be really afraid. That meant he was planning something, when he lost his temper and did something impulsive he was pretty easy to calm down.

"Oh God" dropping his friend Kai walked back to his desk and sitting at it proceeded to bang his head down onto the table "Damn, damn, damn, damn"

"Ok Tala wouldn't explain to me who Svetlana was and why this is a bad thing" a concerned Mariah said looking at Kai "do you wanna explain it to me?"

"Svetlana is my aunt" Kai told her still banging his head down

"Yeah I got that bit… what's the big problem? And please stop doing that, you're killing brain cells."

"That's not been proven" grunting Kai sat up properly and faced his friends girlfriend "When my mum and dad got married my aunt told my mother that it wouldn't last, that my father couldn't be trusted, that he wouldn't be faithful, that he was a cruel, soulless, egomaniacal, jerk... She was right but it just didn't make a good wedding toast."

"Oh" Mariah nodded "I'm beginning to get it"

"Well the thing is dad is insisting mum and I stay with him in the family home and I'm willing to guess that means aunt Svetlana will be staying with us too. She and my dad hate each other."

"Hang on your dads gonna be around too? I guess we better start digging the trenches now." Tala shook his head "how you gonna cope man?"

"I'll be working a lot, I'm definitely coming to anything you two want to invite me too and remember anytime you want to call me up and pretend there's an emergency it will be gladly welcomed"

"I can only break my leg so many times before they get suspicious" Tala laughed.

"So you'll definitely come to the opera with us?" Mariah asked with a sly grin

With only a small sigh to demonstrate his displeasure at the suggestion Kai nodded "But I won't be bringing anyone, you'll have to give your spare ticket to someone else."

--

Tala walked with Kai to his meeting to discuss 'something' which Mariah left hanging around the office for a while. She was waiting just outside Kai's secretary's office when she heard the argument

"Look I'm just saying that what your wearing isn't exactly proper office attire"

"And again I apologise but I wasn't going to be here all day and…"

"I do not care, I don't know why you were in Mr Hiwatari's office before I was even in this morning but I must insist that you try to keep a professional demeanour around the office"

"Very well" Mariah rounded the corner to discover Hilary standing with Ms. Heyer "Next time I'm in the office I shall wear something more suitable"

"See that you do" Ms Heyer then turned and walked past Mariah nodding politely

"Mariah" Hilary bowed politely and was about to walk off when Mariah grabbed her arm

"Wait…I want to talk to you" Mariah smiled "want to come for coffee? Or do you have to work?"

"Um… no, not really, how about you?"

"Nope!"

"Um…" for a second it looked as though Hilary was about to say 'no' then something flashed in her eyes a look of intense loneliness that surprised Mariah she didn't like seeing someone look that unhappy. Quickly returning to her usual smiling appearance Hilary nodded "You know what… yeah… that would be nice, but don't you need to wait for Tala?"

"No" Mariah shook her head happily, "I was just gonna walk with him to work, I'll say goodbye to him and then you and I can get going!"

--

Sitting with Mariah sipping at a cup of tea Hilary felt more content than she had done in a long time. She didn't have many friends she could just sit with and it was fun to just chat about everyday things. Her conversations with Kai had usually been quite serious or based on specifically businesslike subjects, it was nice to chat about girly things.

"So… what do you think of Kai?" Mariah asked, she had decided not to be subtle about this, subtlety could sometimes make a situation more drawn out than it needed to be.

"I think he's a good business man, his views are a little skewed and I've heard some rumours about him that are a little suspicious but…asides from all that he seems to be a good man"

"I meant do you think he's hot?"

"Oh" Hilary blushed, she hadn't been expecting Mariah to be so blunt, she was hoping to avoid answering properly "Sorry I didn't understand"

There was a period of long silence during which Hilary concentrated on her mug of tea, finally Mariah got bored of waiting and leant forward resting her elbows on the table "So….?" she prompted "what do you **think **of Kai?"

"He's attractive" Hilary admitted with a shrug

"Well that's a start" Mariah groaned leaning back in her chair "He's an OK guy you know, there are a lot of rumours about him but you never know…"

"Stop right there" Hilary held up her hands "Look, Kai and I are too different for this to ever be a possibility. There's stuff you don't know about me."

"Like what?"

"Like… well… I'm not from around here…, I could never move here…, not really and Kai could never come to be with me…"

"If it's just a question of distance and living space…"

"No, it's not just that… I can't really explain, can we talk about something else?"

"Like what?" Mariah asked grinning

"I don't know, anything that doesn't revolve around Kai and I dating."

"Ok… hey do you like opera?"

"Um… yeah, I love opera, I'm a huge Angela Gheorghiu fan"

"Oh me too" Mariah squealed "hasn't she got the most amazing voice?"

"To say nothing of her stage presence" Hilary agreed nodding "I have to say whenever I see her perform I just get lost in the moment"

"So would you like to come with me next week? I have a ticket that no one is using" Mariah gave her new friend a sly smile as her quick mind started to make a plan.

--

After bidding farewell to Mariah Hilary walked through the streets wandering aimlessly, eventually she came to a small deserted alleyway and ducking inside she pressed her hands together. Muttering a few words she felt the world around her swirling and her stomach seemed to jump inside her.

Eventually all went calm and she found herself at home again, she was in her bedroom a tidy room filled with white and blue furniture and decorated with light yellow walls. Happy to be home where she no longer had to make any pretence about who she was she sat on her bed, as she stared at the ceiling she felt a certain sense of satisfaction. It had been a long time she had sat with a friend and just discussed things pointlessly, it was fun. Looking around her she realised someone had been in her room, her hairbrush had been moved…

"Who moved my hairbrush?!?" She yelled leaving her room and walking down the stairs to find a family member

"Hilary you're back!" her mother sat at the table mixing something in a small bowl, she smiled at her daughter "You were gone for ages. How many has it been now?"

"Three" Hilary responded calmly making her way to one of the cupboards and grabbing a glass. She sighed as she looked at the glass surface, no spots from improper cleaning, no slight cracks from general wear and tear. This may as well be made from diamond so unused did it look. By earth standards it would be hard to believe that this glass had been part of a set gifted to her mother over three centuries ago.

"Seven more to go then… how come it's taking so long this time? You spend so much time in that world and yet you've only granted three wishes"

Hilary inwardly groaned, she had been waiting for this to be mentioned "I like the people, they're friendly"

"Friendly?" Hilary smiled as her mothers voice took on an edge "You have a male owner this time don't you? What's he like?"

"Mother just leave it, he's an alright guy but there's nothing going on. Today I went for coffee with his friends girlfriend, that's all." she filled her glass with water and took a small sip

A sigh escaped the older woman and she gave her daughter a pitying look "You shouldn't make friends… I know it's hard…"

"I just want to know who moved my hairbrush?" Hilary quickly changed the subject

"Louisa was visiting, she may have entered your room today"

"I don't believe it" Hilary moaned as she stared at her mother "I thought once she was married she'd stay home and use her own hairbrushes, I even gave her a hairbrush set as a wedding gift. Older sisters are more trouble than they're worth!"

"Hilary! It is just a hairbrush, in the grand scheme of things…"

"I know, in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter. No one has been hurt by my sisters actions." Sighing Hilary dropped a kiss on her mothers head "Sorry, I didn't mean to cause you worry or distress."

"You don't but you're so different, we have an ideal, perfect life and yet you want something more."

"Not more mother… just different."

"But everything is perfect, why would you want different?" There was no reply and Hilary's mother shook her head a little sadly, she didn't understand her young daughter, never had and probably never would. "I sometimes wonder if it was wise allowing you to become a qualified genie so young, the human world is a confusing place."

"Mother I was confused before I ever met a human, don't worry I can look after myself."

Sipping her drink Hilary looked out the kitchen window where a permanent sun emblazoned the sky creating a riot of colour. She smiled to herself it was a beautiful sight but as she thought of the beauty of sunsets and sunrises she felt saddened. Sure the permanent sun ensured that people could live to their own time, no one was ever controlled by night and those that wished to live in darkness could make their way to the mountains and many lived peacefully there but it felt too controlling, she was looking forward to her next visit to earth whether it be to grant Kai his next wish or join Mariah at the opera she didn't mind.

* * *

Ok too weird?? Ari Dark Princess if you have any problems please pm me or review, if you really hate it I can make alterations or send you then next chapter for approval when it's finished.

Please R&R!!


	5. Chapter 5

Thanks for the reviews!

Ok I have done a little research and apparently Kai's father was called Susumu, If I'm wrong then I apologise, his mother had no name that I could find so she is Anna. Any complaints or corrections please review or pm me and I might make alterations.

Dedicated to Ari Dark Princess!!!

I do not own Beyblade

* * *

Lying back on her bed Hilary stared at the ceiling, she had been unusually bored these last few days. Normally settling back in at home was easy but she was anxious to get back to the human world where life was less predictable and she could actually wonder about the future of the people around her.

She had been caught and told off as she left Kai's office today by his secretary, the woman had obviously jumped to conclusions…she loved that! No one in this realm ever jumped to conclusions, they would wait patiently, gather all the facts and then decide how to react to a situation. She was glad she had been caught before she had a chance to disappear, Mariah was a lot of fun and was obviously jumping to conclusions herself. There was no way anything could happen between her and Kai, no genie had ever become human… well there was a myth that one had but most people just ignored it. Still she liked the unpredictability Kai represented, he seemed so cold and yet… he hated firing people unnecessarily.

Contrary to belief in storybooks Genie's have a relatively predictable and normal life. They have powers beyond imagination but were such peaceful people it was rare that they used it. Their power meant that they never felt pain, they rarely needed sleep and hard work was a joke. They live in a realm filled with peaceful tranquillity, no one bemoaned their lot in life or suffered with depression, arguments didn't exist.

Hilary knew her life would be easy, she was destined to meet her soul mate one day, they would marry and she like all other female genies would give up the work of a qualified genie and have children. She would cease to exist in any earthly when her body was tired, generally around the age of eighty and then they would travel to an afterlife of bliss. Personally Hilary didn't understand this situation, she would be pleased to just cease to exist if she was going to go from a life of perfection to an afterlife of complete perfection, it sounded dull.

All genies have a soul mate, and they know when they have found the One, it was a simple speaking of two souls. It could be a person you know for years and then one day you meet them and you both know you are meant to be together. This happy situation meant that there was no divorce, no jealous lovers, no awful first kisses with guys you regretted and no unfortunate bad dates. You simply meet your soul mate and marry him.

Hilary wondered what it was like to have a bad date, she wondered what it was like to have a kiss. She was twenty one and had never been kissed. Many people may think that it doesn't sound too bad to be twenty one and still un-kissed but there was something else about genies that made Hilary feel impatient. Time in the genie world is the same as the human world but their calendar is different, where they have a year the human world has one hundred. So actually Hilary was 21.5 centuries old.

Now that's a long time to go without having a kiss!

She wondered for a moment what it would be like to have Kai kiss her. She could imagine staring into his eyes, maybe running her fingers through his two toned hair, to have him lean in, holding her against him as their lips…

Hilary shot up into a sitting position blushing, this was not good!

--

Climbing out of his black BMW Kai stood in the large driveway and looked up at the considerable house that he had grown up in. It was a large three storey building, thirteen bedrooms, two kitchens, five reception rooms, eight bathrooms, one library and four dining rooms. In truth it was a bit much for a three person family but when the three of them had an argument they could each pick one of the dining rooms to eat in.

As he stood contemplating the ridiculously sized house his father owned the front door opened, two women walked out. Both were pale with dark hair, their hair was so black that it looked slightly unrealistic. Though they were very similar it was easy to tell them apart, Kai's mother gave the impression of being constantly tired while still looking younger than she was. Svetlana appeared a lot older than her actual age but had a confidence that her sister had lost during her marriage.

"Kai" Seeing her son Anna Hiwatari walked forward and wrapped her arms around her son, she smiled softly as they hugged and then stood apart from each other

"Hello Mother" He gave his mother an odd look, there was something different about her, she was smiling more than usual. He turned and bowed politely to the dark haired woman standing by the door "Aunt Sveltana"

"Hello Kai" his aunt smiled politely

Kai looked around and noticed that his fathers butler was standing in the doorway "Is father here yet?"

"No" Kai's mother shook her head "He'll be arriving tonight."

"I'm going to the opera with Tala and Mariah tonight" Kai told her glad that he wouldn't be present when his father arrived

"That's Ok, I need to speak to him about something private anyway. Take my sons cases inside please" Anna briefly addressed the butler, who bowed and walked over to Kai's car. "Let's go in."

"I was just going to park my car" Kai indicated the car but his aunt shook her head

"Let one of the servants do that" Svetlana made her way into the house assuming they'd just follow

Kai huffed in an annoyed fashion as he turned to the butler. "Can you look after it? I only just got it."

"Of course sir"

"Thanks" Kai was about to turn away when for some reason he felt bad for just leaving his cases with the older man. The guy was about fifty and he was expecting him to take in two extremely heavy cases. "I'll take these in" he picked up the cases, smiling at his mother told her "After you mum"

Anna smiled as she walked in holding the door open for him, Kai immediately carried his cases over to the stairs and walked up to his room. He had placed his cases on the bed then left the room deciding to leave them till later. He stood momentarily on the landing when he heard a door below him open and his aunt address his mother.

"Where'd Kai go?"

"He's taking his cases upstairs"

"He's taking his own cases to his room?"

"I'm sure he'll be down in a minute"

"That's not the point, he pays people to do that sort of thing for him"

"I think he realised that the butler might have trouble with them and there was no one else around to ask."

"The butlers paid for thing like that, if he can't do the job then he shouldn't have it, rich and powerful people…."

"Alright that's it." Anna interrupted her sister surprising Kai, normally his mother didn't stand up to people "Listen Kai is his own man and maybe he's finally realised that money aren't the most important thing, It took me almost forty to work it out and if he's managed it now then I'm proud of him. He's gonna have a rough enough time of it when Susumu gets here so don't you start on him"

"Anna he needs to remember that money and power are important"

"Money and Power are the reason Father wanted me to marry Susumu, look how that worked out."

"Have you people not heard of divorce? You'll get half of everything…"

"There you go again, telling me what to do, I'll handle my own business my own way."

Kai heard rushed footsteps and then a door slammed shut, he was pretty sure his mother had just entered the library. After hearing another door close signalling the coast was clear he walked softly down the stairs, creeping over to the library he slipped unobtrusively into the room. His mother stood staring out the window, he was about to clear his throat to get her attention when…

"I used to watch you from here."

"How did you know I was here?"

"You make more noise than a herd of elephants" Anna turned grinning, Kai frowned, he knew he had been quiet. Anna laughed at his expression and told him "I saw your reflection in the window."

"Oh right" Kai nodded and joined his mother at the window "when did you watch me from here?"

"When you were little, sometimes I'd be visiting and I knew that when I was here you became more formal so sometimes I'd just watch you for a little while. Your nanny was a good woman, I sometimes think that if she had been in charge you wouldn't be half as screwed up as you are"

"Hey!" Kai gave her an annoyed look but smiled, it wasn't often that he saw his mother and it was even rarer that she'd talk about his childhood. "Why were you always gone?"

Anna turned to stare out the window again "Your father had strict views, the women in his family never raised the children themselves. I found it tough leaving you with a nanny constantly so I went back to work, the more I worked the less I thought about you. Then I noticed that you liked the nanny better so I worked longer hours. Your aunt's right I should have left your father when you were a baby, but things would have been too tough."

"How so?" Kai gazed out the window as well remembering happy times with his nanny.

"Back then divorce was tough on women, it was still kind of frowned on and my father would never have allowed it. Your father might have got custody of you and then god knows what you'd have been like. I remember the first time he let you have a whisky"

"Me too" Kai chuckled at the memory, he had been only seven and it had been a horrible experience, his mother had been furious and it was the one time he had seen her stand up to his father. He turned to look at his mother again scrutinizing her face carefully. "You're going to leave him"

"What?" surprised she turned from the window and stared at her son "I don't know what…. How did you guess?" she smiled lightly moving away from her standing position to sit in one of the libraries overstuffed chairs.

"I don't know how I guessed, but I'm glad. You deserve better than him mother."

"There more to it than that Kai" she sighed unhappily "sit here" she indicated the chair next to hers. "Kai there's something else"

"You have a boyfriend?" he teased taking the seat lounging back lazily.

"I wish… Kai I'm not well"

"What?" Kai sat up straight staring at her, he reached forward instinctively taking her hand in his.

She patted his hand gently "It's nothing serious, a heart defect, I just need an operation to correct it properly."

Unsure of what more to say the two sat in silence, the bluenette stared at his mother stunned by her announcement. After a while he regained his higher brain functions "When did you find out?"

"A few weeks ago, that's why I really agreed to come here, I wanted to tell you in person."

"Who else knows?"

"No one."

"Not even Svetlana?" he asked incredulously

"Not even Svetlana" she shook her head "I wanted you to know first. I'm not even sure I'll tell anyone else." she laughed and relaxed back in her chair "Knowing that I could have died if no one had noticed this has given me a strange confidence boost." She smiled and giggled as she remembered something "I surprised your grandfather the other day by telling him that I had decided to ignore his advice for my company and was changing markets. It's the only time I've ever stood up to him."

"I thought there was something different about you" he shook his head disbelievingly, as dismayed as he was by her news, he had to love her new confidence "I could tell the minute I saw you there was something new"

"I thought the same when I saw you… who is she?"

"Who is who?" Kai tried to keep his voice light

"Kai I haven't seen you in any of the magazines or tabloids recently. Usually you're in there somewhere. Now I know Tala has apparently settled down, and I would love to meet the girl sometime, but that doesn't mean you have to give up your social life. So I repeat, who is she?"

Sighing Kai stood and walked over to one of the bookshelves. He carefully opened it up revealing a hidden fridge he grabbed a bottle and poured himself a drink. "Want something?"

"Juice please"

He pulled out a carton and poured his mother a glassful of orange juice, then closing the fridge he headed back over. Handing his mother her drink he sat down.

"Her name's Hilary, she works for me… I think"

"You think?" his mother looked surprised

"Yeah… it's complicated, my secretary thinks she's one of the temps but when I ask Hilary about her job she changes the subject."

"Maybe she has plans for a better job and doesn't like temping in an office"

"You see that's one thing I don't get, she has an amazing head for business, she understands it all better than most of my staff. She also talks like she loves the work, when we talked about it she was saying that businesses are interesting."

"Well if you've spent enough time with her to actually have a conversation with her she must be something"

"Mum!" Kai raised an eyebrow at his smirking mother "I talk to girls"

"Yeah only because you're hoping it will lead somewhere else"

"I can't believe I'm having this conversation with my mother!" he shook his head taking a sip from his glass "Look mum she's…. different. She's beautiful and I'm not gonna lie that's the first thing I noticed but she's got this aura about her, a confidence and happiness most people don't have."

"And….?"

"And what?"

"Are you seeing her? So far you have only mentioned seeing her at work."

"I haven't asked her out yet. It's like when I'm with her I'm too nervous and by the time I'm comfortable enough with her to ask she's usually out the door. I've only ever seen her at work."

Anna Hiwatari smiled as she watched her son, she had been married at a very young age to a man she didn't really know. She couldn't help but hope her son would be luckier than herself in love.

--

"So your mother is finally leaving him?" Tala was surprised by his friends news (not because he thought Kai's parents were happy but because she'd finally got the courage to do it).

"Yeah, I think she was going to tell him tonight so that she can draw up the papers while they're in the same house. I asked her to wait until I'm around"

"Sounds like it's going to get even more awkward" Mariah said as she sprinkled more parmesan onto her pasta. They were sitting around Mariah's table dressed to go out, Mariah wore a black and pink dress, it was knee length with straps. The two men wore dark suits with white shirts underneath, of course this meant they had to all be very careful as they ate the pasta. They usually ate just before leaving for the opera, it meant that when Kai and Tala hit the bar during intermission they had something to soak up the alcohol.

"I don't mind awkward but I don't want her telling him and it stressing her out, I read up on her condition on the internet and stress would be really bad for her right now." Kai ate some of his dinner and grinned "You know this is really not bad Tala, I haven't died yet"

"Well pasta's the only thing he can actually cook" Mariah teased

"I know, I remember once he was making rice and it basically stuck to the bottom of the pan. It tasted terrible"

"You ate it?"

"Only so I could tell him how bad it was, it was overcooked and undercooked at the same time."

"You two do realise I'm still here right?" Tala asked

"Oh hi Tala!" Mariah waved jokingly across the table, just then the doorbell rang and Mariah jumped up grinning "That's my friend. Try not to act like idiots with her OK?" She left the room and Kai and Tala heard the door open and muffled conversation.

"If she's invited Ming Ming I'm jumping out the nearest window" Kai turned to warn his friend

"And I'm right behind you" Tala nodded laughingly then the door opened and Mariah walked back in

"You guys know Hilary right?"

Kai turned to the doorway eyes wide, she looked stunning as usual wearing a dark blue dress edged with gold. Her hair fell wispily around her face making her look a little older than usual, she looked nervous.

"Hi"

"Hey there" Tala grinned welcomingly "would you like a drink?"

"Just water please"

"Sure thing, I'll get it" Tala stood to get her the drink and as he left he nudged Kai hissing "Close your mouth idiot." he then walked into the kitchen.

"I'll go help Tala" Mariah grinned and slipped out the room.

Left alone Hilary and Kai stared at each other, he smirked when he realised that she was blushing rosily. "You know Tala used to be able to get people drinks of water on his own"

"It's a tough thing to do" Hilary muttered sarcastically "you need to get a glass turn a tap"

"Yeah. They couldn't have made this a more obvious set up" Kai joked

"I dunno" Hilary shrugged "they could have locked us in a closet together or arranged to meet us at a restaurant and not shown up."

"I gotta admit I like the sound of the closet thing" Kai told her slyly

"You know I'd hit you for that but I promised Mariah I'd be nice" Hilary told him remembering what Mariah had said as she arrived.

"_Hey Hilary" Mariah greeted the brunette at the door "you look great!"_

"_So do you" Hilary complimented back _

"_We're just finishing dinner so take off your jacket and come through"_

"_Who's we?" Hilary asked slightly suspiciously ass she shrugged off her jacket_

"_Tala"_

"_Oh alright"_

_Mariah took the other girls coat and hung it up "…and Kai"_

"_Right" Hilary raised one eyebrow and glared at Mariah "you could have told me that before"_

"_Would you have come?"_

"_Maybe" Mariah gave her a look "…no. Look I told you Kai and I can't be a couple"_

"_And I'm not expecting that, just be nice to Kai ok? He's having a rough time of it."_

_Hilary was curious but she didn't ask questions she merely nodded handing Mariah her coat "How do you define nice?"_

"_Just talking to him"_

"_Fine I'll be nice."_

"Why did Mariah make you promise to be nice?" Kai asked curiously

"Because I could tell it was a set up" Hilary shrugged sitting down across from him.

"Oh" Kai picked at his food, he was nervous again. How was it that he could chat up supermodels no problem but this temp from his office seemed to turn him into a jittery mess?

The silence was a little uncomfortable so Hilary decided to break it asking "So how did that meeting go?"

"You mean the one where I suggested the big bosses, myself included, take a pay cut in order to tide us over until this recession ends?"

"That's the one"

"Just peachy! They were furious but they couldn't exactly say anything cos I'm the boss. My father might have something to say about it though."

"Why? You're doing the right thing, surely he should be proud of that?"

"My dad and 'the right thing' are total strangers." Kai shrugged as carelessly as possible "fingers crossed he'll get distracted by other things that are gonna come up and he won't cause a fuss. My father thinks he knows better than me when it comes to what I do with my life."

"Yeah I got parents like that" Hilary nodded "My mother wants me to settle down, my sister got married when she was younger than me and my paretns think I ought to do the same."

"You're lucky to have a sister, I used to wish I had siblings"

"It's not that much fun, she borrows my stuff all the time. I know it doesn't seem like a big deal but I hate it."

The two of them talked together comfortably for a few minutes, they were left alone so long that Kai inwardly wondered if Mariah and Tala had gone out the window to leave them unaccompanied. His theory was soon disproved as the other couple rejoined them, Tala handing Hilary a glass of water and Mariah suggesting they get going.

It was obvious from the look Tala gave Kai that he was finding the whole situation very funny so Kai 'accidentally' trod on Tala's foot as they left. He smirked and then noticed that Hilary had been watching him, she grinned at him biting her lip so she wouldn't giggle before allowing Kai to help her put her jacket back on.

Hilary was enjoying herself, she liked the way Tala and Kai interacted, it was obviously a strong friendship that allowed for each others annoying habits. She wondered how long they had been friends, maybe she could ask him next time she was visiting…

No!

She wasn't supposed to get close to him.

She wasn't allowed to get too attached to her owner.

She was a consummate professional and she was determined to keep it that way.

Or at least… she was going to try!

* * *

Ok I know this chapter is a little odd but I wanted to get Kai's family in a bit more. I am trying to decide who will figure out what Hilary is first but it won't be Kai.

As for the other stuff about Hilary's home, I didn't want being a genie to be a horrible occupation but I wanted to explain why she enjoyed being with humans so much. Having Genies be slaves, it's easy to write that a genie would want to become human but having a perfect life it means that choosing to change will cause problems.

Please R&R and remember if you hate it you just gotta tell me!

(I might not change it but I will respect your opinion)


	6. Chapter 6

Dedicated to Ari dark princess.

I do not own Beyblade

* * *

He was in heaven, Kai hated the opera and yet he was in heaven. Now he understood why Tala was so willing to go with Mariah to listen to this awful singing. As Hilary watched the stage he watched her.

She was smiling widely, her eyes, always beautiful to him, were sparkling, she seemed perfectly happy.

Finally the singing stopped, there was large applause, Hilary and Mariah were discussing the performance apparently it was the interval. He stretched as he stood up and turned to see a leering Tala focussed solely on him.

"What are smirking at?"

"Nothing" Tala responded the smirk still present on his face

"You two you ok?" Mariah asked confused as she realised they were still there

"Yeah" Kai spoke a little roughly annoyed at the obvious amusement of his friend, he felt bad for speaking harshly to Mariah so he smiled and amended "Why do you ask?"

"Because by now you've both normally already left to hit the bar before the queue starts."

"Kai was enjoying the view" Tala told her happily "Come on Kai lets get a drink while these two talk arpeggios"

--

Tala and Kai stood at the bar trying to order drink, Mariah was right they normally left way before the interval started and got a round of drinks in, now they were stuck in the queue. This was going to take a while.

"So enjoying yourself?" Tala asked with a smirk as he tried for the fourth time to get the bar man to come over

"Shut up, Excuse me!" the last part was addressed to the bartender who just walked past holding up a hand apologetically

"Come on Kai I saw you staring at her, you didn't take your eyes off her once"

"Which means you were staring at me" Kai told him mockingly "What does that say about you? Hey excuse me! Damn I wish they'd just let us order"

Kai was surprised when Hilary arrived at his side, she gave him a soft smile before leaning over the bar and calling "Excuse me!" Immediately the bartender left what he was doing and walked over, Hilary then turned to Kai asking "What were you wanting?"

--

Standing talking with Mariah Hilary heard the words Kai had uttered and sighed, "I'll be back in a second" she muttered moving away and walking with real ease through the crowds to join the boys at the bar.

She had then get the bartender to look at her and the moment she made eye contact she made an incantation in her head and the bartender had no option but to walk over and take her order.

After they had been served the three of them walked back over to Mariah. Tala and Kai were making jokes about how pretty girls were the only ones that got served in places like this but Mariah was suspicious. How had Hilary gotten served so quickly? She wasn't the only pretty girl at the bar, it didn't make a lot of sense. Maybe she knew the barman?

Of course Mariah soon shrugged it off as Hilary began to talk about the show once more, the two girls had similar tastes and the interval seemed very short thanks to their conversation.

--

As she sat watching the stage once more Hilary was reminded of why she was here. The fact that Kai had made a wish calling her to drop everything and obey made Hilary feel uncomfortable. She shouldn't really be sitting here with these people but she was enjoying herself. She liked Mariah who seemed easy to talk to, she liked how Tala and Kai interacted, they had a friendly rivalry that was almost fraternal.

The music was beautiful but Hilary couldn't concentrate, she was thinking about what her mother and father would say if they knew where she was. She had lied saying she was taking a walk but what would they say if they knew? They would be furious at her for lying, genies just didn't lie. In fact she couldn't remember ever lying to them before.

She suddenly felt odd, it was another new feeling for her. She had never been sick in her life and now she could feel her stomach twist and there was an odd feeling rising in the back of her throat.

Murmuring apologies she slipped out of her seat and headed for the aisle. Soon she was out of the theatre, she stood in the corridor trying to control her breathing which was very erratic right now.

"Are you OK?"

It was Kai, he must have followed her out.

She smiled falsely at him "I'm fine"

"Are you sure?"

He looked concerned and it made her genuinely smile and she nodded "Yeah, just… I've got some family problems right now. I kind of started thinking about them."

"I know what you mean" he told her, as he spoke he slipped an arm around her waist and directed her to a chair and after she had sat down he took a seat next to her. She looked at his profile surprised by his serious expression, she shouldn't ask, it was unprofessional… still she could always tell herself that her curiousity was professional and she was only asking because she might be able to help.

"What's wrong?"

"You really want to know?"

"Well it looks like it's bothering you so…yes"

Kai sighed and leaned back in his chair "My mothers ill"

"Oh I'm so sorry, what's wrong with her… unless you don't want to tell me" she realised that he might not want to talk about it but he smiled and turned his head to look at her

"She has a heart problem, it's as a result of something from her youth so it's not hereditary or anything just…"

"You don't like her being ill" Hilary finished understandingly

"Yeah" he smiled as he looked at her "she's had such a raw deal out of life, I just want her to be ok and to enjoy herself… you know?"

"Yeah I know" she smiled back at him a soft look in her eyes.

Instinctively Kai raised a hand and brushed his hand against her forehead twisting his fingers in a strand of her hair. His hand went to the back of her head and he sat up and moved towards her. All evening he had wanted to kiss her, to touch her, to hold her close, now they were alone and she was within reach he hadn't been able to resist.

'Move back Hilary… I said move back!'

Hilary's brain was going crazy as Kai's face inched closer and closer

'If you don't back away now you'll regret it forever…'

His breath was on her lips, he smelt of mint and somehow his breath seemed cold and warm all at once.

'Just look away… don't look into those hypnotic grey eyes… I said LOOK AWAY'

His lips touched hers, they were surprisingly soft, she responded shaping her lips into the appropriate gestures and moving her hands up to rest on his shoulders. No need to worry about his eyes now as her own closed in complete abandon to the moment. His other hand went to her neck gently massaging his thumb along her jaw line as he flicked his tongue along her lower lip.

Just when she thought she couldn't get more addicted to the touch of Kai's lips his tongue came into play surprising her and making her open her mouth… His tongue hit hers and gently coaxed her into reacting. She was tentative, nervous but he was calm at ease and soon the two of them were passionately responding to each others touch.

Finally they broke apart, her eyes slowly opened to look at him he was watching her smiling, he moved in to kiss her again but she moved back this time. Finally her common sense had kicked in.

"I... I have to go" was all Hilary could utter and she stood practically running from him, she moved into the ladies bathroom and once she was sure she was alone pressed her hands together and muttering the words that would take her home.

--

Kai watched her run from him more than a little surprised, he wouldn't have been surprised if she had moved away straight away after all he was her boss but to kiss him like she had and then run…?

Bemused he stood and walked towards the exit assuming that she had headed that way. He asked around but apparently no one had seen her. Guessing that she might have returned to her seat he headed into the theatre and looked at where they had been sitting. Mariah and Tala still sat in their seats but she wasn't there.

Tala had obviously been watching for him because when he arrived at the door the redhead nudged his girlfriend and nodded his head over at Kai. Mariah turned to look at Kai her face showing concern, together the two stood and headed to join him.

"What happened?" Mariah asked the instant they were out of range of the theatre

"I don't know" Kai shrugged looking upset "One minute we're talking the next she runs off."

"Oh really?" Mariah cocked her head to one side smirking

"Yes really"

"Then how come you have lipstick on you face?"

Eyes wide Kai raised his sleeve to his mouth and scrubbed at his face

"I'll ask you again" Mariah said dangerously "what happened? "

"I kissed her… she seemed ok with it" he defended himself "Then she just ran off"

"Man you must be a bad kisser" Tala commented not at all helpfully

"Shut up Tala" Mariah fiddled with her watch "Look Kai… Hilary…she said that dating you wasn't a possibility. I think she may have another boyfriend that she doesn't want to talk about or something."

"Oh" Kai nodded feeling disappointed

"She likes you, she admitted that she thought you were attractive but there's something preventing her form being with you."

"Right" Kai nodded "Look I'm gonna head off" he turned on his heel and walked away

"Kai!" Mariah was going to call him but Tala placed a hand on her arm and shook his head

"Leave him"

"But I know she likes him, I just thought that if she spent some time with him she might realise the stuff preventing her from being with him might… seem not so big?" Mariah trailed off not really sure of what she had been hoping for.

"Things can't always be like that" Tala shrugged sadly "it's a shame, he really likes her."

"I don't think I want to stay any longer" Mariah muttered.

Tala smiled and wrapped his arms around her in a comforting gesture. She had been trying to help Kai and it made him happy that the girl he was falling in love with cared about the man he considered his brother. "I'm not complaining if we leave" Guiding his girlfriend out of the opera house Tala kept one arm securely around her waist.

--

Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn!

Why had she agreed to spend such a romantic evening with him?

Why did he have to be so attractive?

Why had she let him kiss her?

Why had she kissed him back?

With a mind full of questions Hilary lay on her bed feeling miserable.

"Hilary?" someone was at her door

"Just a second" Hilary yanked off her dress and pulled on a bathrobe, she checked the mirror and wiped off all her makeup before raising a hand to her head and letting her hair down "Come in"

"Hello Hils" A brunette almost identical to Hilary walked into the room with a baby on her hip.

"Louisa" Hilary gave her older sister a smile welcoming her into her room "What are you doing here?"

"Mother and father asked me to speak with you" Louisa told her honestly "They're worried about you."

"I know" Hilary nodded and walked forward to welcome her little niece "Aw look at little Tina. Hello baby" the one year old in Louisa's arms gurgled happily as Hilary got her attention. "Wow she's grown"

"It's been a while since you've seen him. You've been so busy with your training and work as a professional genie we hardly see you. Want to hold her?"

"Please...! I know I've been busy" Hilary took the little girl from her sister and grinned as she sat down on her bed "What else did mum and dad want you to say?"

"Look Hils… by your age most girls have met their soul mate…"

The minute her sister said the term 'soul mate' Hilary's mind flew to Kai, "I know"

Louisa was surprised, normally when she was questioned about this subject Hilary would become defensive. Now Hilary just looked confused. "What's with that look?"

"I've met someone… he makes me feel… happy. I don't know if it's love but when I think about never seeing him it makes me unhappy" Hilary smiled a little as Tina grabbed onto two of her fingers "It's tricky"

"How so? If you've met…" Louisa looked at Hilary carefully, her hair was falling around her face in an odd way, almost as though it had been styled. Her favourite blue dress had been tossed over a chair "Where have you been?"

"Earth, the human world."

"Were you wished there?" there was a suspiscion forming in the older girls mind and she didn't like it

"No, but my master did make a wish while I was there"

"You have a male master this time?"

"Louisa?" Hilary allowed her hair to fall forward hiding her face from her sister

"Yes Hilary?"

"I think I've really screwed up" Hilary sounded broken hearted as she told her sister this.

"Hey" Louisa moved forward and brushed Hilary's hair back so she could get a good look at her face "Whatever you've got going on it can't be that bad, I'm sure we can…"

"I kissed him" Hilary interrupted

"Oh wow" Louisa stared at her sister completely shocked "you actually kissed him?"

"Yeah… what the hell am I going to do? This is more than just bad… it's technically illegal"

"No" Louisa shook her head slipping an arm around Hilary and hugging her "There's actually no law against it. Whatever happened it wasn't criminal ok? Just frowned on!"

"Frowned on?" Hilary stared at her sister "Frowned on? Mum and Dad would kill me to say nothing of how impossible the situation is. He doesn't even know what I am"

"He thinks you're human?"

"Yeah, and even if he did know what would that do?"

"Well you could become human"

"That hasn't been done in millennia no one's entirely sure it's possible the magic is old and complicated. The ingredients needed for the spell are almost impossible to acquire. Even if I considered it… humans are wired differently, most marriages end in divorce."

"What's divorce?" Louisa asked

Hilary sighed, she had forgotten how little Louisa actually knew of the human world, she had never actually been sent there and divorce was nonexistent in this realm.

"Divorce is where you separate from the person you're married to"

"Why would anyone want to do that?" Louisa seemed really confused "surely that would leave you very lonely? What about their children?"

"The children adjust and as for the other thing… Well people often find someone new"

"New?"

"Oy" Hilary groaned "Look the point is in the human world they aren't afraid to 'be with' more than one person. The point is, I may be willing to live with Kai the rest of my life but there is no guarantee he'd say the same for me."

"I see…well that explains your unwillingness." Louisa nodded trying to get her head around what she had been told.

"Yeah," Hilary lifted Tina up a bit and kissed her forehead "Of course now I've met him I don't want anyone else. That condemns me to a life of loneliness."

They sat in silcence for a while, there was nothing that either of them could say to make this any better. Finally Loisa looked at her younger sister and asked "When are you going to tell mum and dad all this?"

"Not yet" Hilary thought about it carefully "he has six wishes left… I'll wait until he's used a few more."

"Good idea…"

Hilary sighed turning to face her sister properly "Of course if I do decide to be a human you can have my hairbrush"

"Oh my god! Are you still not over that?" Louisa laughed as she and her sister looked at each other "I can't believe you've been alive for over 2000 years and you still get annoyed when I borrow your hair brush!"

* * *

Ok people you know what to do!!


	7. Chapter 7

I know I said to many that my last chapter would be the last before Christmas but I had a six hour train journey to visit family and nothing to do so I got writing!!

Dedicated to Ari dark princess

I do not own beyblade

* * *

As I'm sure you've all gathered Kai's father is the root of most of his troubles, he like his father had been cold, reserved and above all else a businessman. He arrived first to the table and sat eating his food calmly acknowledging his family one by one as they came down but not really greeting them.

It was going to be one of those days Kai decided as he sat at breakfast with his family, everyone else had already arrived and the atmoshpere was opressive. His aunt had obviously decidefd to make her presecne felt the night before and she nad his father were sniping at each pther with undisguised venom. Nprmally during these seessions he would keep his head down sparing his mother the occasional sympathetic glamce but today it was different. He and his mother were sharing amused smiles that hinted of the scret they shared, had either of the other two people at the table been at all vigilant they would have soon noticed something was up but aunt Svetlana and Susume Hiwitari were determined to fight.

"I'm done" Ana said quietly standing as she finished her meal "I think I'll get ready to go"

"Do you want me to drive you?" Kai asked politely wiping his mouth and standing as well

"That would be nice. Thank you"

"You will both sit down" Kais' father had an unusually commanindg voice

The two that had stood exchanged and uneasy look and sat down gazing expectantly at the head of the table. Susume sat calmly finishing his last slice of toast making everyone wait on him before finally looking around and stating quietly

"I have some questions to ask about what you have all been up to recently"

'Oh God' Kai thought internally, 'he knows… which thing he knows… out of all the things he'd disapprove of that I've done other the last few weeks I don't know but… he knows!"!

"I've been working" Kai's mother answered timidly

"And ignoring your fathers advice… what about you Kai?"

"I have been doing my best to keep things on an even keel while we have an unsteady economic climate and…"

"Don't give me that rubbish" Susume snapped angrily, he rose to his feet glaring at each of the two in turn. "Both of you have been ignoring the advice of those superior to you and doing things your own way. Kai you totally ignored the advice of your accountants…"

"He did it to save jobs" the outburst was a shock to even Kai but as his mother rose to her feet in his defence Kai was aware of a similar need to protect his mother as she stood there eyes flashing with anger. "he and I have spoken of this. He was aware that in doing those things people would lose jobs so instead he took initiative and I am proud of him"

"Did you hear that boy? Your mother who is stupid enough to think…"

"Shut the hell up" this time Kai and Svetlana were standing but it was Kai that drew his fathers stunned gaze "Now if you don't mind mother and I wish to get to work."

Kai calmly made his way around the table to the door where he was joined by his mother and together they left the room feeling proud of each other and themselves.

--

"Man you're father sounds cruel" Mariah spoke disbelievingly. She sat with Tala and Kai at a table in a small café. The three often came here on their lunch hours as it was within walking distance of all their places of work and served an excellent range of food. It wasn't the usual type of place where three people who all earned way more than they needed would end up eating but they had become comfortable and happy meeting here away from the usual crowd.

"I told you" Tala muttered cutting into his fish "he's the worlds only living heart donor!!"

"Tala!" Mariah laughed but Kai nodded agreeing with his friend

"Yeah but I've never stood up to him before. I just got so mad with him insulting my mother I couldn't take it. She may have had help starting up that business but after a year she was running it by herself and at a profit. It's all her talent, her hard work that made it a success. Any help she received stopped after the first six months and she paid back the money she owed to them plus interest so why don't they just leave her alone!" Kai started to get louder as he made his speech and at the end of it he was slightly breathless.

Tala and Mariah just sat looking at him with surprised looks on their faces

"You Ok?" Tala questioned

"Yeah, I just wish… I just wish… never mind" he shrugged frowning, Mariah looked out the window surprised standing across the street just beginning to walk away stood Hilary.

"Be right back" Mariah threw down her napkin and practically ran out the café following Hilary down the street. She saw her friend round a corner and disappear into a small alleyway. She ran forward just in time to see her friend surrounded by a glow of light and then… nothing.

The light was gone

Hilary was gone

There was noting

Feeling slightly dizzy Mariah turned and made her way back to where she had left Kai and Tala, she walked in and sat down at the table.

"Is everything ok?" Tala asked feeling very concerned "you ran out of here so fast I thought you were chasing a mugger or something."

"No" Mariah shook her head confusedly before deciding to lie about what had just happened "I just, I just, I saw an old friend and wanted to catch her."

"Did you?" Kai asked interestedly

"Yeah, um…" Mariah picked up her bag "I better get back to the gallery, I have something to set up for next week" she kissed Tala gently on the lips and hugged Kai briefly before walking out of the restaurant.

--

"Hilary?!" Louisa looked at her sister stunned as she arrived swiftly back from her latest 'job' "How come your back so soon?"

"False alarm" Hilary shrugged "he didn't finish his sentence so no wish!"

"I remember mother saying that that could count as an actual wish if you want"

"I don't want to cheat him out of the wish" Hilary shook her head "just cos I don't want to see him doesn't mean I want him to be hard done-by"

"Ok but it's up to you… you could always ask to not return"

"No!" Hilary almost shouted the word "I mean… I mean then I'd have to tell everyone what happened and I can't do that"

"Are you sure it's that?" Louisa asked watching her younger sister closely "Or do you just want to see him again."

Hilary paused before she answered

* * *

Happy Christmas to you all. I appreciate my readers and reviewers and I hope you all have a wonderful holiday. For the record I am Christian and wish all my friends (christian or not) a happy Christmas even if they do not celebrate or believe in it themselves. They all appreciate it in the spirit in which I say it and it is with love and a real wish for all to experience joy at this time.

Please R&R


	8. Chapter 8

I apologise for the shortness of my last chapter but I must admit that I didn't think anyone would mind or even notice! Well to make up for it I think this is a bit longer.

Dedicated to Ari dark princess

I do not own beyblade

* * *

Sitting at her table with a cup of coffee Mariah tried to act normal as she pretended to listen to her boyfriend. She felt nervous, only a few days ago she had, had a simple life, she was a normal girl, good job, relatively comfortable home, fantastic boyfriend and an easy acceptance of the general world around her. Now she didn't know what to think.

How could a person just disappear?

It wasn't possible?

Or was it?

"Mariah?"

Tala was staring at her a confused look on his face, it was obvious that he had been speaking for sometime and she hadn't heard him, she smiled at him and apologised asking him to repeat himself.

"I asked if you were willing to come to Kai's parents charity event?"

"Oh yes…" Mariah nodded happily "I'm really rather looking forward to meeting them after all I've heard."

"Great, those things are ridiculously boring and I really didn't want to go there alone!"

"Aw so you reeeally want me to come?" Mariah asked in a wheedling tone

"Um" Tala gave his girlfriend a suspicious look before nodding "yes… why?"

"No reason I'm just thinking that if I come you'll owe me some thing."

"Oh god your going to use this as an excuse to drag me along to something I really don't want to go to aren't you?" he grinned as he leaned his elbows on the table and gazed into his girlfriends eyes.

"Maybe" Mariah tilted her head to one side smiling teasingly

"What is it?" Tala leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek, she accepted the kiss

"Nothing… yet" she kissed him on the nose "but I'll be thinking of something."

"See you later" Grinning Tala turned and picked up his briefcase "I'm calling on Kai on my way home…. Hey you never heard from that Hilary again did you?"

"H-Hilary?" Mariah looked up stunned, Tala gave her an odd look, she was acting in a slightly guilty way and it confused him. "No haven't seen her, she seems to have just… disappeared" Mariah said the last word with a hint of confusion.

"Babe are you ok?" Tala moved forward and then immediately backed away as Mariah looked up with eyes filled with anger "Shit…sorry I forgot"

"What did I say about calling me babe?"

"That you hated it cos it sounds like I can't remember which girlfriend I'm with. Or it sounds like I forgot your name." Tala backed down the hallway keeping his hands up in a defensive gesture "I'm sorry"

"Good" Mariah patted him on the head patronisingly "very good. Now off you go to work and Tala…"

"Y-yes?" he winced noticing the slightly evil look in her eyes

"I've suddenly decided what I want you to do in payment for going to that party"

"What?"

"Oh you'll find out all in good time!" Mariah turned and practically skipped down the hallway leaving a relieved Tala sagging against the front door. He had forgotten how much Mariah hated being called 'babe' or 'sweetheart'. He supposed as he walked out the door that he could see her point, he'd hate to be called stuff like that and she did have a name.

Truth be told though this was the first time he'd ever actually learnt a girls last name as well as her first. He'd just have to be careful not to slip into that old habit of using nicknames, it was true that it stemmed from a time where he couldn't remember the girls name. It had been one of Kai's tricks actually, if Kai ever settled down with a girl he'd probably have as much trouble not calling where babe as well. Of course not all girls were as fiercely feminist as Mariah… actually Hilary looked like she might be.

--

Feeling restless Kai sat in his office with his mother looking over his fathers plans for the charity event. It was to be a black and white event which annoyed Kai, what the hell was it with people wanting just black and white?

"Kai?" his mother gave him a curious look

"Yes mother?"

"Something is troubling you?" she tilted her head slightly as she looked at him.

Sighing lightly Kai shrugged, yes there was something troubling him but he didn't know how to explain it to his mother after all she had her own problems the last thing she needed was to hear any of his.

Luckily for Kai at that moment there was a knock art the door and a very familiar redhead poked itself around the door.

"Yo Kai"

"Please stop saying yo" Kai grumbled only getting a cheesy grin from his friend

"Sorry but yo is my word" Tala grinned at the Ana Hiwitari "Yo Mrs. H!"

"Yo Tala" Kai's mother replied grinning at her sons reaction

"Oh God" Kai leant forward and pounded his head down onto the desk trying to destroy the brain cells that remembered that he was related to or best friends with the two people in his office.

"It's good to see you Mrs. H" Tala sat down opposite the two Hiwitaris

"Good to see you too and I was rather hoping to meet your lovely girlfriend sometime soon"

"She is lovely" Tala agreed seriously

"Well I wish Mariah was here, I might get some decent conversation" Kai muttered still facedown on the table.

--

Across town Mariah sat in her office looking over certain papers when a knock at the door looking up she spoke an impatient "Come in"

"Mariah?"

The pinkettes head snapped up and there she was, Hilary.

"Am I interrupting anything?" the brunette stood nervously in the doorway

"No" Mariah shook her head "um… what can I do for you Hilary?"

"Well Tala and Kai are over in Kai's office discussing the charity event and I'm willing to bet they could do with some help."

"Right" Mariah stared at the girl confused but nodded and stood up grabbing her coat followed Hilary out of the building. They only had to wait seconds for a taxi to arrive outside the building, it was like Hilary had summoned the car there with her mind (of course she had but Mariah didn't know that).

It was raining out and that was the reason Hilary calmly informed her friend that she would get them a taxi. It wasn't long before the two girls were in the taxi and off to there destination and it was when she sat there that Mariah wondered why she had so willingly come with this girl. Only yesterday she had seen her disappearing into thin air, but for some reason she had just felt this need to go with Hilary and see how the boys were doing. What was with that?

Staring scrutinising at her companion Mariah studied the girls choice of clothes. Once again everything looked right. She wore a vibrant blue skirt with a light lemon coloured shirt, on her feet her shoes matched the outfit perfectly as though she had taken the clothes along to a cobblers shop and said 'make me shoes to match this' and once again her jewellery looked perfect. A silver flower on a chain around her neck, light silver flower earrings and a chunky charm bracelet. The two of them had run through the rain to the car but Hilary's hair was still elegantly styled as though she had just steeped out from a hairdressers. Mariah ran a hand through her own dishevelled hair but Hilary's was intact in a neat French pleat that really suited her.

Hilary was uncomfortably aware of Mariah's stares but she was a little unsure as to the reason. Could it be that she was annoyed about her leaving the theatre the other night? She was pretty sure that Kai would forgive her for running off and she had been very careful in telling Mariah that nothing could happen between her and Kai so surely the girl would understand.

--

"Mariah we were just wishing you were here like five minutes ago… why did you come?" Tala asked bounding over to his girlfriend grinning like a lovesick schoolboy. He kissed her on the mouth but unusually for him her kept it light, Kai assumed it had something to do with his mother being in the room.

"No reason" Mariah lied smiling at her boyfriend, it freaked her out but for some reason she didn't want to say that Hilary had brought her and there was something odd going on. When they had arrived Hilary had stayed in the take saying she had somewhere else to go.

Oddly enough it wasn't fear of the girls freaky powers that made Mariah cautious, it was the look on Hilary's face when Mariah had asked if she would be coming in too. Hilary had stared up at the building before slowly mournfully shaking her head. There had been real pain in Hilary's eyes when she sat back in the taxi pasting a fake smile on her face and pretending she was fine.

"Mariah this is my mother" Kai smiled fondly at his mother as the pinkette bowed respectfully

"It's very nice to meet you madam" Mariah felt a little awkward as she looked at the dark haired woman with eyes that seemed to study you.

"Well I have to say I've been looking forward to meeting you" Anna spoke softly as she smiled at her son "The woman who can make Tala settle down must be something special indeed."

"Not really madam" Mariah blushed prettily

"Ok stop calling me madam it reminds me of how old I am and I don't need to b reminded of that"

"Hey now we're all here why don't we go out for lunch somewhere?" Tala asked receiving a glare from Kai "Oh come on Kai you can come back and sort out all this junk later" Tala urged.

"He's right Kai" Anna smiled at her son "lets go get something to eat and we can talk about the ball while we sort it out"

"Fine" Kai nodded unhappily and left his mother to gather up the papers, he walked over to the window where he looked at the real reason he hadn't wanted to leave the office. The weather outside was getting worse, it was hitting the windows with such force that it sounded throughout the office. He really didn't want to take his mother outside in this weather, it was stupid and he knew it but he had become very over protective of her now he knew she was ill.

"Kai?" Mariah walked to stand with him by the window "Is everything ok?"

"Yeah it's nothing really," he shrugged smiling at his friend "I wish it would stop raining for a few minutes" Kai muttered quietly, neither Tala or his mother heard the plea come from the tall mans lips but Mariah standing next to him at the window watched in awe as suddenly the heavy downpour slowed down until it was completely finished. The grey clouds broke apart and blue sky and bright sun over took the sky.

"Well that was lucky" Kai frowned to himself then shrugged the whole thing off.

"Come on you two" Anna smiled brightly "Tala's been telling me about the restaurant you usually go to, as we're all here we might as well go get some lunch."

"No lets not go there" Kai shook his head "We ought to go somewhere more…"

"Expensive?" his mother asked

"Posh" Tala suggested grinning, the two of them exchanged glances and laughed merrily

"Kai I'm sure it's fine to eat there, I'm not your father you know!"

Unnoticed Mariah who also stood at the window was quiet merely opening and closing her mouth like a goldfish, just as Kai turned to walk back to the desk she grabbed his arm "Kai"

"Yeah?" He looked down at her serious expression with surprise

"Tala was saying earlier that you three were wishing um that I was here, were those words actually said?"

"Pardon?" Kai asked confused, "I didn't hear that"

"um…" Mariah knew it sounded stupid but she had to ask "How did you get onto the subject of me before I arrived"

"Oh…" Kai gave her an odd look "well Tala came in, mum mentioned you, she and Tala got talking. I said I wished you were here so I could have some decent conversation. Why"

"No reason" Mariah stood very still. As soon as Kai was out of hearing she whispered "I wish it would start raining" Nothing happened. Slightly embarrassed she blushed and was very pleased no one had heard her. Turning back to the group she ran forward and linked he arm with Tala's.

"It's stopped raining" Kai commented indifferently "You ready to go mum?"

"Ready when you are"

"Ready to go beautiful?" Tala teased looking down at Mariah

"Tala" Mariah frowned at him remembering their argument earlier and knowing he was just calling her beautiful because if she argued with it her would act all stupid.

"Come on" Tala grinned as he guided her to the door "Mariah and I will go find a taxi that way if it starts raining again it won't matter too much."

--

'One more gone' Hilary thought to herself as she sat in the taxi, she had asked the driver to take her to a nearby park. Sitting watching the rain hit her window she felt pretty low, she had wanted to go into the building to see Kai but… What would she say to him?

She had no idea how to act in situations like this, did you apologise?

Did you just walk up to the guy and say _"Hi you know how I ran off after you kissed me and I kissed you back? Well I'm really sorry, lets be friends?"_

"We're here, that'll be £12.80" the driver spoke as he pulled up abruptly in front of the park gates "but it's raining pretty hard, is this where you wanted to be?"

"I like the rain" Hilary said with a shrug as she handed over the money.

She climbed out of the black car and after slamming the door behind her made her way into the park. She walked slowly through the deserted area following a gravelled path for a few minutes until suddenly she heard it

"_**I wish it would stop raining for a few minutes"**_

Annoyed that he had called her enjoyment of the weather to an end Hilary looked up and placed her hands together. Summoning up her strength she closed her eyes before saying the name of the particular cloud needing to move "cumulonimbus" and then the rain stopped, the clouds moved across the sky and the sun began to shine.

"And there goes another one" she said to herself sadly "Two wishes and I didn't even get to see him."

* * *

Please R&R


	9. Chapter 9

In answer to one question from a reviewer, this fic will probably have about two maybe three more chapters after this. I only planned on doing about ten but decided to make Tala and Mariah feature more in the story, if I had cut them out it would have been easier and shorter!

I do not own beyblade!!

Dedicated to Ari Dark Princess.

* * *

"I just remember it so well" Ana Hiwatari said laughing as she spoke with Mariah "we got a call from the school saying that Kai had been in yet another fight and they wanted to talk to us this time. His father had to fly back from Prague, then Susume, Kai's father, had a very long talk with Kai about behaving himself before we went in for the meeting. When we arrived at the school to talk with the headmaster the two of them just stood glaring, rather like they are now, at each other."

Mariah looked over at the two men to see that they were glaring, only unlike in the story Tala and Kai were not glaring at each other but at Kai's mother.

"Anyway" Ana continued unfazed "we weren't the only ones there, Tala's parents were there too. We al introduced ourselves and were very civilised. We sat the boys in chairs on separate sides of the door then started talking with the headmaster. We assured the man that we had spoken to Kai and he wouldn't be getting into any more fights with Tala. Tala's parents then said the same thing, they told us that they had made Tala promise never to fight again and that he had. We then turned to talk to the boys and told them again that they had to behave. We thought we'd solved the matter and the four of us parents were walking down the corridor with the headmaster agreeing that all boys needed was a firm hand and they'd obey when we hear a shout from behind us." Ana stopped briefly as she drank form her glass

"What happened?" Mariah asked eagerly

"We turn around and there the two of them are rolling around on the floor beating the living daylights out of each other. I couldn't believe it, we had our backs turned for about ten seconds and they're at it again!"

"How you two became friends I'll never understand" Mariah laughed but Tala grinned shaking his head.

"I don't **really **remember how we became friends either. I do remember that one day I was being beaten up by some older boys and Kai walked into the corridor, he told the older boys that it was an unfair fight as there was one of me and six of them…"

"Three" Kai corrected, "there were only three of them"

"Ok so three of them" Tala corrected himself angrily glaring at Kai muttering "six sounded better" before carrying on with the story "so they pulled Kai into the fight to make it fairer. We fought side by side and when it was over we were in a lot of pain but, we didn't hate each other anymore. I guess we started fighting together so much we just became friends."

"We're friends?" Kai asked mockingly "Since when?"

"Yes we're friends" Tala muttered angrily punching his 'friend' "you can't hang around as much as we do without being friends. Or something else…?" he waggled his eyebrows suggestively making the two women laugh and Kai shudder.

"Alright I guess we're friends" Kai said in a prosaic monotone

"No need to sound too happy about it" Tala said wanting to punch him again. Mariah couldn't help but laugh at the two friends, Kai knew exactly how to annoy Tala and Tala knew exactly how to annoy Kai. It was almost like they were brothers.

A cell phone sounded from Ana's bag, she pulled it out and then apologised saying that it was her doctor. She excused herself from the table and walking to the door answered the phone.

"Is she doing ok?" Tala asked discreetly as soon as Ana was gone.

"She'll be fine" Kai said but for once there was a hint of real worry in his voice.

"I guess she must be really annoyed about your father and all the other stuff that's going on."

"Yeah, I just wish… I just wish… never mind" Kai shrugged frowning.

Suddenly Mariah had an extreme case of déjà vu. That had been said before… why had that stuck in her mind though? Why did she remember hearing those words so clearly. She had been sitting here, she was sure of that, she had been sitting here, with these two, looking out that window and… Hilary!!

Now Mariah remembered, that had been what Kai said right before she saw Hilary.

I wish!

Those were the two words he had spoken when wanting the rain to stop.

And he had wished for her to be in the office and Hilary had appeared to take her there.

He had been about to wish for something and Hilary had appeared.

No way!

Could Kai's little habit of saying the words 'I wish' make Hilary appear?

No that didn't make sense, she hadn't been anywhere nearby when the rain had stopped.

Besides granting wishes? It was impossible!

But then again so was seeing someone disappear!

"So what is it?"

"What is what?" Tala asked and that was when Mariah realised she had spoken aloud.

How long had she been talking aloud for?

"Um… nothing" Mariah brushed it all off quickly "Nothing at all."

"Are you sure?" Tala asked curiously

"I'm sure it's just a…, it's a…, work thing" she finished lamely. It was a safe thing to say though, Tala and Kai liked having their privacy when it came to work stuff and they were unlikely to question her about hers!

--

Bored as he sat at dinner with his family Kai worked hard to contain his sigh. He would give anything for it to be just him and his mother. Asides from anything else he wanted to know how things had gone at hospital today. She had arrived home late and he had barely been able to stop himself form jumping for the phone and dialling all the local hospitals. It was just the three of them today, Svetlana had been called away and so unfortunately for Kai and his mother, this meant there was no one to take Susume's attention.

"I hear you have been taking time off work recently" Susume looked over at his wife as he spoke "Today in fact."

"I had something to do" Ana replied smartly filling her mouth will broccoli.

"I take it that you do not wish to tell me what you were doing."

"Mhhmmh" Ana shook her head indicating her full mouth as an excuse not to reply.

Kai smirked as he watched his father silently seethe, almost immediately Susume turned on his son and began to question him "Kai"

"Yes father?"

"I understand that you are working on the charity function with Ms Heyer"

"Yes"

"But you are yet to name a date for the evening."

"I have not yet chosen anyone"

"You ought to make a choice soon, it is important for appearances that you bring someone"

"Kai your father is right, you need to bring someone along to the dance you know!" Kai's mother grinned as she gave him a devious smirk. "It would be boring if you went alone."

"Yes Mother!" Kai gave a slight glare to his mother, he was slightly tempted to bring his mother absence from work today back into the limelight. He didn't, merely protecting her but annoyed that she was so willing to tease him.

"She must be someone with either a good background or at least an untarnished background. I remember what last years guest was like and I did not appreciate the story she sold to the paper afterwards"

"Father whosoever I choose will be my choice."

"I think you forget your place" Susume hissed

"No, no" Kai looked around him "I'm pretty sure I was sitting here before"

Ana giggled into her tea. Kai chuckled lightly as they shared the joke, this was fun. Why had he and his mother never shared jokes like this before? His mother sure had changed since he was a kid.

As his father continued to lecture him about the importance of picking a girl that would not bring shame to the family, Kai's mind drifted to Hilary. He wondered why he hadn't seen her in so long. He missed her, he really missed her, the way she smiled tilting her head to one side as she questioned him about things.

Why had she reacted so badly to that kiss? It wasn't a bad kiss, in fact it was a pretty good kiss. Out of all the kisses Kai had ever had… and he'd had a lot that one was pretty much the best. Hilary was in his thoughts so often these days that he was having trouble concentrating on anything especially his father… who was still talking. Could the guy not work out when to stop, or when people had stopped listening to him?

Sighing audibly he concentrated on his meal. There was only one person he could even consider taking to the ball, unfortunately right now she was nowhere to be found.

"Is everything alright Kai?" his mother was looking at him concerned

"I'm fine mother" he sat up straight smiling slightly "Just fine"

--

"So your dads been on at you about this ball thing" Tala asked as soon as he and Mariah met up with Kai for lunch.

"How did you know?" Kai asked staring at his friend with surprise.

"I know you and I know your dad!"

"Well apparently last years date didn't meet his standards. I dunno maybe I'm just gonna go alone this year… It's not like it's that big of a deal"

"Yeah the last thing we want is a repeat of last year."

"What happened with last years date?" Mariah asked inquisitively

Both Tala and Kai stared at each other, a look of disgust and… was that panic? crossed their faces

"Nothing" the two men spoke simultaneously

"Oh now I really want to know" Mariah giggled.

They had a quiet meal together with Mariah occasionally trying to bring conversation around to last year's date but neither boy budged. They flat out refused to talk about it! Soon the meal was drawing to a close and the discussion of this years event came up again. Kai quite honestly couldn't name any girl to come with him and he refused to really try to find anyone.

"I can be dateless" Kai argued with Tala

"You and I are never dateless, if you show up alone people will start up that old rumour…"

"What old rumour?" Mariah asked, she sure was interested in all their old stories all of a sudden "Or is this one as embarrassing as the other one?"

"Well this one you probably heard" Kai muttered "There was a rumour that the reason Tala and I never found anyone serious, was because we were…" Kai paused "How do I put this?"

"More interested in each other than our dates?" Tala chuckled lightly

"Oh! You mean they thought that you two…" Mariah looked at them and they nodded "Yeah I guess I could see it!"

"What?" Both men sounded very offended at this.

"Well you know what they say about those all boys schools!" Mariah teased laughing at their looks of disgust.

"Look if I was that way inclined I could do better then Tala" Kai smirked at his friend who choked on his drink

"Hey I could get any guy I want!" Tala announced loudly getting some odd looks form the rest of the restaurant patrons. Smiling at the waiter who stood nearby Tala cleared his throat before saying "Cheque please!"

Recovering from his laughter Kai looked over at the still giggling Mariah announcing "Well now I gotta bring a date or everyone will think Mariah is with me and you're pining over…"

"Say another word and I crush your voice box!" Tala muttered angrily.

"Well how about I ask one of my friends along?" Mariah offered, she was really trying to keep a straight face "That way it would just be a friendly thing and you wouldn't have to worry about it!"

"As long as it's not Ming Ming, although my father was sorry to see that she and I were no longer dating, that sounds fine" Kai muttered to Mariah, he and Tala no longer made any secret of their feelings for the blue haired girl.

"No problem, I know who I'd like to bring though" Mariah sighed as she broached the sticky subject that was Kai's last 'date' "Have you seen Hilary since the opera?"

"No" Kai shook his head sadly "Have you seen her?"

"No…" Mariah lied "I was kind of hoping that you had." Kai shook his head again "I was actually a little worried about her, I just hoped if you had someway of contacting her I could call…" Mariah said to Kai "I **wish** I could see her."

"Me too" Kai agreed "I wish she'd at least go see **you** to let us know she's ok."

Crossing her fingers for luck that she was right about Kai's wishes Mariah grinned "Well I've got to go. See you tomorrow Kai" turning she dropped a kiss on Tala's lips

"Yeah… oh can you check on Tala's suit for the ball his taste is awful. I know it's too late for him to get a tailored one, but he should be able to find a decent, ready made, tux in two days." Kai ducked as his friend swung a punch at him

"Hey I can dress myself!" Tala argued

"Sure thing Kai" Mariah headed out the restaurant ignoring Tala's shout of

"I HAVE GOOD TASTE!"

--

"Nice lunch Ms Wong?" The minute Mariah arrived back at work her assistant walked forward to take her coat.

"Wonderful" Mariah nodded "Did I get any phone calls while I was out?"

"No but you have a visitor in your office. It's the lady from the other day so I said she could wait there. Ms Hilary she didn't give a last name."

"Thank you."

Walking into her office expectantly Mariah smiled at the brunette who sat in the chair awaiting her.

"Mariah!" Hilary stood and walked over to her "I just thought I'd…"

"Grant Kai's wish?" a smirking Mariah finished for her.

The minute Hilary heard Mariah's words her whole face fell "Damn" returning to her chair she sat down heavily looking defeated.

Looking the young woman over Mariah was not surprised to see that once again Hilary was dressed with her usual flair. She wore a bright yellow summer dress, it was knee length and flared out in a full skirt. Over that she wore a smart denim jacket, her hair was done up in a French pleat, ion her ears she wore small crystal studs and on her feet were cute denim sandals with small crystal like gems.

"I was so careful. How did you figure me out?"

"I saw you disappear, that day at the restaurant when Kai didn't really finish his wish. After that it didn't take me long."

"I didn't see you. Look I wanted to explain, so many times but…" Hilary trailed off and Mariah saw that her eyes were filling with tears. "God this is so messed up! I'm supposed to do my ten wishes and leave. That's it. I even gave away my first kiss"

"First kiss?" Mariah stared at her "No offence but that's not exactly a big deal."

"Maybe not to you, but in my world it's different"

"So wait you come from another world?" intrigued Mariah moved around her desk and sat facing Hilary "Wow what's it like?"

"The genie realm is very different from this world, your first kiss is supposed to be perfect and it needs to be with your perfect partner" Hilary explained with a shrug, noticing Mariah confused face Hilary sighed "Mariah have you ever noticed that my clothes and hair are always perfect??"

"Well I was going to ask you where you get those amazing shoes. They always seem to match."

"That's just the way it is in my world, you make the clothes you want with our magic and we're all perfect so it always comes out perfect. My hair actually physically can't be out of place. I have never woken up with knots in my hair or anything like that"

"Perfect?" Mariah asked curiously "Everything's perfect?"

"Yeah, that's part of the way it goes when you have powers. Perfection. That's why we come to other worlds, our life is so perfect that my people made a law many, many millennia ago to go to other worlds and help."

"Wow… so hang on how does it work? You make it sound like you have a home to go to. You have like 'genie' parents and everything?"

"I do." Hilary shifted in her seat and started to explain. "Back in my world travelling to another to work as a genie is kind of like jury duty. Every century they pick five of us to go to different worlds, we are allowed to give out ten wishes. Most people don't like doing this and look for ways to get out of it… I on the other hand love it so I sign my name up voluntarily every century and someone who has a valid reason for not doing it can get away with not doing it."

"What's a valid reason?"

"Pregnancy, age, kids, death in the family you know that kind of thing."

"It really is like jury duty!"

"Yeah, but I love it. I love being in an imperfect world, it's fun. I'm considered a bit of a rebel back home, most people just want to do their ten wishes and get it over with." Hilary sighed happily.

"Yeah about that, why's it ten wishes?? I thought it was three"

"No that's just in Aladdin" Hilary laughed sounding a little annoyed "Blimmin Scheherazade and her Arabian nights."

"But you come from a lamp like in the story!" Mariah pointed out

"Well we pick an object to be anchored to, some people like jewellery, others like furniture. Lamps were popular once because their pretty constant, everyday objects. I thought it would be funny if I went 'old school' this time and picked a lamp… god only knows why."

"So the anchor is what keeps you here? And only the owner can use you?"

"Yeah, ownerships been a difficulty sometimes but we go with whoever bought and paid for it or whoever it was gifted too."

"What if it gets stolen?"

"Then it won't work, that's another place the storybooks got it wrong. You can't steal a genie, you have to legally buy it or get it as a gift or in a will and a genie can only give out it's ten wishes per century. It doesn't start all over again"

"But how come you haven't told Kai what you are?"

"Ah well…" Hilary bit her lip nervously "There are no rules about telling your anchor's owner what you are. The first time I came here and told someone what I was they got all… selfish and started to make cruel wishes. There are other rules, I can't kill anyone, I can't force people to do things against their will, I can't change feelings and no wishing for more wishes but he made me do some mean things…. for that reason there is nothing in the rules about telling everyone who you are, so usually I keep it a secret."

"So you were worried Kai would be like that…selfish?"

"Well, he doesn't exactly have a good reputation."

"I won't argue with you there" Mariah said with a nod "he and Tala had awful reputations. For a long time I refused to date Tala but he wore me down and I'm glad he did. He's not the bad guy people assume he is. Both Tala and Kai had a rough upbringing, wealthy but lonely. Hey can I ask you something else?"

"Sure"

"Where do you go when you're not here? I mean you don't live inside a lamp what's your home like?"

"Home. Pretty average, houses like yours, constant sun, perfectly symmetrical mountainside scenery. As I'm on genie duty I just stay in my home realm all day, I don't know how to explain where it is, I really suck at geography. Plus it's kind of like a space between spaces so they don't really include it in your general curriculum."

"Right. What do you normally do while you're there?"

"Normally, I work, I study, plant things, care for my garden, make clothes. When you're on genie duty it's more dull. Talk, meditate anything we want to but sometimes you just sleep waiting for your anchors owner to make a wish or for someone to call on you. You don't have to own the anchor in order to call on someone. You just have to say 'though it be not in my power to wish it I ask for an audience' and the genie will be able to come talk to you. That way genies can call on other genies. Or a person can pass on ownership of the genie but still check up on them. It's all very complicated."

"How old are you really?" Mariah asked staring at her "You can't be twenty one, you look younger and you act older, and the way you talk about past owners, centuries… how old are you?"

"Well genies have a different time zone" Hilary explained "in our realm time it's different and when we're on earth and we use human calendars it gets tricky. We give our ages in centuries, so when I say twenty one, I don't mean twenty one years I mean twenty one centuries"

"No way!!" Mariah sat back stunned "You've been around for over twenty one centuries??"

"'fraid so"

"Wow, so Kai's got an older woman!"

"He doesn't have me" Hilary told Mariah seriously "And he never will, he never can"

"Why not?"

"I'm a genie!"

"And?"

Hilary sighed "Ok let me explain, remember I told you that when a genie goes to another realm in order to grant wishes they have an anchor?"

"Yeah an object, yours is the lamp"

"Ok well if a genie wants to give up their genie status they need to get a human to wish it and then be anchored to a human."

"What's wrong with that? You could be anchored to Kai"

"If I used Kai as my anchor he and I would be co-dependant, if I ever got killed he'd die too, and vice versa, if he got killed I'd die. I could give everything up for him and anchor myself to him only to get hit by a car the next day and kill us both."

"Or you could live till you're eighty and die together in your sleep"

"That's unlikely and there's more, I'd need an identity and a job, there's no guarantee that if I come to this world permanently I'd have any talents or skills. I would certainly have no qualifications."

"Well that does raise some problems but I'm sure Kai…"

"Look just forget about it"

"Couldn't you just stick around?" Mariah asked curiously "you know just stay a genie and be around?"

"I don't age like you guys. I'd have to watch you all get old and die before me. I couldn't do that. Only by anchoring to a human can I become human."

"The odds really are stacked against you" Mariah sat back in her chair trying to puzzle it over.

"Yeah, I should never have kissed him" Hilary moaned miserably holding her head in her hands.

"It's just a kiss…"

"I don't have time to explain all of this to you, I need to go home before my parents get suspicious. My sister is covering for me."

"You know your world is starting to sound very similar to mine!" Mariah and Hilary laughed together. For a second Hilary looked as though she was going to hang around a bit longer but with a wry smile at the clock she sighed.

"I guess I can just disappear in here" Hilary looked around "You know the truth now."

"Wait, Kai has this charity thing. Remember I told you about it?"

"Yeah a dance of some sort."

"Come!" Mariah urged as Hilary stood "I offered to bring someone for Kai you could come and see him again. I can tell you want to. That way you'd at least get to say a goodbye to him."

"I can't!"

"Come or I'll tell Kai!" Mariah announced dramatically

"He wouldn't believe you" Hilary countered but she still looked a little hunted

"I'd stand him in his office and make him wish for you." Mariah's eyes were flashing dangerously "come on Hilary, it's just one little dance…I saw in your eyes the other day how much you want to see him. I can see it now."

Hilary stared at her pink haired friend, there was a lump forming in her throat and she felt like she was going to choke. She knew she should say no. She knew how much trouble she would be in if all this was discovered but the want… no the need to see Kai was too strong. After a few hesitant moments she nodded.

"I'll come"

"Great!" Mariah squealed happily and running around the desk hugged her friend "It's a black and white ball, come to mine in two days time, be there at eight."

"If anyone from home finds out I went that ball, it will be the last time you ever see me!" Hilary warned

"I just want Kai to be happy, even if it's only for an evening" Mariah shrugged "He's missing you, I can tell. Really it would be best if you at least end it on a good note."

"I guess" Nodding Hilary pressed her hands together and disappeared in a haze of light, Mariah smiled as she watched hoping that her ultimate plan would work. She didn't care what Hilary said, she and Kai were destined for each other.

* * *

Please R&R


	10. Chapter 10

Dedicated to Ari Dark Princess.

Before I begin may I just say.

I hate men, I hate them!! They are the scum of the earth!

Ok maybe I'm going a little overboard here. I'm going through a particularly nasty break-up and I currently feel that knowing about romance, love, and anything else gooey and sweet is a complete waste of my time.

That being said here's a nice chapter filled with romance, love and all things gooey and sweet!!

I do not own beyblade.

I do hate romance

* * *

By going to the ball Hilary knew she was breaking the rules.

By helping he sister attend the ball Louisa knew she was breaking the rules

Both sisters knew this but neither could do anything else.

"This is going to get us into so much trouble" Louisa complained as she helped her sister climb into a long black dress.

"Only if we get caught" Hilary replied cheekily turning so her sister could do up the zip.

"That's what I meant" Louisa hissed as she stepped back "of course if you wear that dress to the hearing no judge or jury will even think about convicting you... as long as their all male"

Hilary laughed, she was more than a little pleased with this dress, it was long and black, there were wide straps on her shoulders and the black against her pale skin looked fantastic, at her sisters insistence it was cut lower than Hilary would normally have liked but according to Louisa it was not enough to be 'scandalous'. At the bottom of the dress there was a light floral design that travelled up one side of the skirt, around to the back and just stopping at the waist. It did suit her and the silver jewellery she had picked out matched perfectly.

"Well it might be the last time I ever see him, I've managed to grant his last three wishes without actually being there."

"How many does he have left?"

"Three"

"So you really might not need to see him, that would be... good?" Louisa knew that her sister did want to see Kai but she also knew what it was like to be in love. Seeing the one you love and knowing that you'd have to say goodbye forever must be painful.

"Yeah" Hilary nodded after a while "it would be good." Hilary watched her reflection in the mirror, for a moment she just stood staring at herself. Biting her lip she was aware of that awful lump in her throat. What was that?

--

"How did I get such a beautiful girlfriend?" Tala asked gazing at Mariah in her white dress, it was a stunning ensemble, a plain white strapless dress with a full skirt that would have looked bridal if it weren't for the black belt and wrap she wore. Her hair was up and her jewellery was pink, not quite following the rules of the black and white ball but she always had been a bit of a rebel.

"Do we have to do this again?" Mariah asked amused "you met me, you hired someone to..,"

"Shut up" Tala hissed kissing her

"Guys can this not wait?" Kai asked not entirely pleased with being trapped in the hallway while his friends made out.

"Nope" Tala spoke cheerfully as he briefly removed his lips from Mariah's.

"Go straight into the living room" Mariah commanded "we'll be with you in a second"

Nodding Kai slipped past the two and walked down the hallway, it was odd but since Tala and Mariah had started dating he had been here a lot. He had never been inside any other girls apartment before Mariah. He got to the end of the hallway and opening the door walked into the sitting room.

He paused.

Standing with her back to him was a brunette in a black and white dress.

He didn't need her to turn in order to know who she was but he wanted her to.

Closing the door so that it banged slightly he was rewarded with a lovely sight.

Hilary had turned to face him, she was looking a little we flushed as she stared at him.

"Oh... hello." 'smooth Hils, real smooth' Hilary berated herself internally as she stared at her 'date' for the evening.

"Hello." Kai wasn't sure how she had done it but Mariah had found Hilary. He'd have to remember to thank her later or at least find out from her how she had discovered where Hilary was.

Kai was looking a little dreamy and confused (I know definitely **not** normal for him) so Hilary spoke quietly staring down at her feet "I'm guessing from your expression Mariah didn't tell you I was here?"

"No she didn't"

"Right... are you mad?"

Hilary glanced up at his face to see that he was smirking slightly "Mad?"

"About the last time we saw each other...."

"Oh no, Mariah said she thought you had a boyfriend or something like that..."

"Yeah" Hilary nodded "something like that."

--

Ever since he had entered the sitting room Kai hadn't been able to take his eyes off Hilary and even here surrounded by people it was no different.

He watched her as she smiled with Mariah, the two of them were talking about fashion and dresses as they walked into the hotel. They appeared to be doing a running commentary on all the people that were there.

"Hey Kai?" Tala got his attention away from the brunette asking "you ok with this?" when Mariah had told him who Kai's date was Tala had decided that the evening could be either really good or really bad.

"Of course I'm ok" Kai shrugged off the question carelessly

Tala smirked at Kai trying to act like he wasn't completely bowled over by Hilary's reappearance/appearance, she did look very pretty tonight. "Cool... cos I see your dad, and he's headed this way!"

"What?" Kai looked in the direction Tala had indicated and immediately the whole evening was soured. His father was indeed heading over to greet him at the door and he looked pissed.

"Kai finally you arrive!" Susume totally ignored the other people standing around as he berated his son "You were supposed to be here to greet guests with your date."

"We got held up in traffic" Kai lied not wanting to tell his father that actually they had just not left on time! "Father you remember Tala? This is his girlfriend Mariah and my friend Hilary."

Hilary had been surprised by the coolness in Kai's voice as he addressed his father. She had never really noticed how cold his voice could sound but then he'd never had any reason to speak to her like that.

Susume swept cold and calculating eyes over the group "It's been a long time Tala, good evening ladies." he bowed politely but Hilary couldn't help feeling uncomfortable, something about Kai's father made her very nervous. "I hope you have a pleasant evening, it is an honour to meet you both"

"Thank you" Mariah bowed politely.

"Good evening Mr Hiwatari" Hilary responded but her impressive mind is speedily trying to work out why she does not like this man. Where it can take a human brain several years of acquaintance and many hours of thought, it took her mere seconds to work it out. _All this man cares about is money and appearances_. He doesn't have a trace of love in his voice for his son. For some bizarre reason this fact makes Hilary want to hug Kai, to tell him that he is worth something and to make him feel loved but she doesn't move. She merely smiled at her date for the evening raising her eyebrows carefully.

Kai grinned back at Hilary, he doesn't know why but he gets the feeling she has seen past his father gracious greeting.

As soon as it is polite the four escaped the elder Hiwatari's presence and made for the bar. They ordered drinks and were soon enjoying themselves just standing around watching the people on the dance floor moving in time with the music.

Hilary was enjoying watching people dance, she had never been to dance like this before, they didn't have things like this back home. The only type of dance she had ever attended was a scottish event that had everyone dancing in patterns and reels wearing bright tartan. This looked different, more formal, more romantic.

"Kai!"

A voice intruded on Hilary's reverie as a dark haired woman make her way over to them, looking at the lady Hilary is able to see the resemblance immediately and makes the correct assumption that this was Kai's mother. Staring at the woman Hilary could immediately see that when Kai had told her of his mothers condition he had either been making light of the situation or he did not know the truth.

Ana Hiwatari's aura was dark, almost malevolent. Hilary could practically see the older woman's illness and her throat tightened in concern. Ana Hiwatari did not have long to live.

"Hello Mrs Hiwatari" Mariah greeted the older woman with a quick hug

"I keep telling you, it's Ana" Ana laughed as she corrected the younger woman "If you keep on calling me Mrs Hiwatari I will not be too happy when my _divorce _finally comes through" she whispered the word divorce because Susume had asked that they keep quiet about the state of their marriage until after the event.

"Alright Ana" Mariah agreed "this is my friend Hilary, she's here as Kai's date!"

"Nice to meet you" Hilary whispered shyly.

"Hilary?" Ana gave the girl in front of her an inquisitive look before turning to glance at Kai "it's very nice to meet you" her attention returned to the brunette "Has my son offered you a dance yet?"

"Mother" Kai spoke warningly

"No he hasn't but I don't really dance" Hilary gave a light laugh as she sipped from her glass.

"Oh yes but Kai's a wonderful dancer" Ana exclaimed "he'll lead you... right Kai?" she leant forward and taking their glasses of wine away from them ushered them over to the dancing. "Go, go!"

Embarrassed Hilary followed Kai's tall figure walking behind him until stopping suddenly he turned to face her, that was when Hilary realised they were in the midst of the dancers. She had been keeping her gaze so fixed on Kai's broad shoulders that she hadn't really noticed where they walked or how long they walked for.

Turning to look down at the blushing young woman behind him Kai smiled "Do you really not dance?"

"N-no" Hilary shook her head, with all her training, in all her centuries of being alive Hilary had never had to dance. Well with the exception of the sword dance that one time she had been accused of being a spy in Scotland but that was different!

"Give me your hand" he held out his left hand and slowly, hesitantly Hilary placed her right hand into it. She tried not to gulp as Kai slipping his hand onto her hip, used his other hand to place her hand on his arm. He then took her other hand in the hand not resting on her hip before moving close to her and whispering "now watch my feet and follow."

Hilary was a quick learner, she always had been and so after a few 'turns' around the floor she had picked up the style of dancing that she and Kai were doing and could move with the ease of a seasoned dancer.

"You sure you've never danced like this before?" Kai asked suspiciously as he moved Hilary around

"Never, this bit's pretty simple though" Hilary giggled a little "just don't do anything unexpected and I'll be ok"

"Unexpected? Oh you mean like this?" Kai asked and moving quickly he pulled Hilary close and turning their bodies slightly he dipped her down like a tango dancer. He grinned as he felt one arm slip up around his neck and tighten it's hold while the hand on his arm clutched him painfully, "Relax" Kai whispered gazing at her face "I wouldn't drop you"

Hilary who had closed her eyes as Kai decided to be spontaneous allowed herself to open her eyes and gaze up into his. Immediately she wished she hadn't, he had beautiful eyes, so deep that she could easily spend hours gazing into them. She was so entranced with his eyes that she didn't even notice that Kai had righted her and started to guide her around the floor once more. Actually to be totally honest Kai wasn't really paying attention to much either. Hilary's arm was still looped around his neck and as a result their bodies were much closer than they had been before.

He longed to kiss her, he could still remember what her lips had felt like but he couldn't bare to watch her run again.

"Wh-where did you learn to dance?" Hilary aksed, she had been desperately trying to think of something to say and even with her superior intelligence that had been the best she could come out with.

"At school."

"I thought you went to an all boys boarding school?" Hilary responded confused

"I did, allow me to tell you the one female teacher Mrs. McCall who made us dance with her until we got the moves right."

Ana couldn't help but watch approvingly as Kai laughing carefully steered Hilary around the floor, she can see it. She's pretty sure she's the only one (with the possible exception of Tala) but she can see how genuine he is. In previous years he had danced, he had gotten up to some pretty racy moves on the dance floor but he had never been so himself before. Any other time had been to, annoy his father, to impress his date, to help his business. Never before had she seen him so natural in a woman's company (with the possible exception of Mariah but as she was with Tala, Ana didn't think she counted.).

As Kai moved Hilary around the floor telling about how occasionally he and Tala had been paired up and forced to dance together. He even told her of the time Mrs McCall had insisted they learn to dance around dresses and had made sure each side of the dancing couple wore a skirt. He loved to hear her laugh, to make her laugh. He loved that he didn't have to be afraid of being himself with her. He can see them in years from now sharing jokes and conversations with each other. Having kids, a family, growing old together.

Life with her would be perfect.

Noticing that her partner seems a little distracted Hilary suggested that they leave the dance floor and go get a drink. Kai happily complied following her through the crowd and glaring angrily at any men that looked at her.

"I don't see Tala and Mariah together anywhere" Hilary stated as they stood at the bar, she had allowed Kai to order her some champagne and sipped at it gingerly. She decided instantly that she didn't like it. She had always appeared too young to drink in this world before but here and now it seemed expected of her. In future she would stick to white wine, it had a more bearable flavour.

"Me neither… oh God!"

"What?" Hilary asked looking up at him

"My aunt just arrived"

"And that's a bad thing?" Hilary followed his gaze and stared at where a woman who looked very like Kai's mother stood talking with Kai's father. Neither of the two looked happy with the conversation.

"I better go diffuse this" Kai muttered placing his glass down on the bar "will you be ok if I leave you alone?"

"I think I can handle the neglect" Hilary smirked her eyes twinkling "Just hurry back to me before I feel abandoned"

Laughing Kai nodded, he was tempted to kiss her on the cheek as he walked away from her but once again, he restrained himself not wanting to give Hilary a cause to run. Instead he just settled for a warm look before hurrying over to where an argument seemed to be escalating.

"You dance very well" turning Hilary was surprised to see someone standing behind her, someone she recognised

"Homer?" The man had sort dark hair and a broad but attractive face. He was tanned and when he smiled his teeth seemed very white. "Oh my gosh! It's so good to see you sensei"

That was when Hilary realised, if he was here then it wouldn't take him long to work out that she shouldn't be.

Now she was in trouble!

"Hello Hilary, so tell me, are you here on a wish?"

"Sort of…, you?"

"Yes, my current master owns the catering company, she needed some extra staff."

That's was when Hilary realised that while Homer was in keeping with the dress code his jacket was definitely that of a waiter and not a guest.

"I see..., Homer please you can't tell anyone about all this." Hilary suddenly decided to throw herself onto her old teachers mercy. "I can't explain everything here and now but..."

"So you are not here on a wish?"

"No"

"Not even sort of?"

"No, it a long story"

Homer sighed and looked at the young woman in front of him, he had known her since she was a little girl, he had actually been the one that helped her study for this job. "When are you due home?"

"Sometime after the party, it depends on Mariah"

"Mariah is the owner of your anchor?"

"No, my owner is the man I was just dancing with, he doesn't know who…. What I am."

"But this Mariah she does?"

"Yes, she saw me, disappearing. She managed to work it all out."

"She sounds intelligent"

"She is, and such a good person…"

"Homer?" a new voice interrupted on their conversation "Sorry to interrupt we ran out of champagne. Can you run to the cellar for more?" hilary urned to find a young woman staring at them disapprovingly.

"Of course" Homer bowed and the woman ran off across the room to see to another waiter "That's my master, no, she doesn't know. I'll call you when you get home"

"Ok, thanks Homer" Hilary watched as the woman who had interrupted her conversation with her friend scanned the room. Immediately her eyes caught on something at the woman's throat, a beautiful necklace, a long gold chain at the end of which hung a large chunk of what looked like amber. Immediately Hilary knew what Homer's anchor was.

"Whatcha lookin at?" Mariah asked startling Hilary as she jumped in front of her.

"See that woman there" Hilary pointed across the room not caring how impolite it was.

"Um… oh you mean Monica Lloyd?" Mariah asked "the caterer?"

"Yes."

"What about her?"

"See the necklace around her neck?"

"God yes, it's hideous isn't it? I mean I like amber stones but that one is huge. If I were her I'd..."

"It anchors a genie"

"What?" Mariah stared at Hilary stunned

"Hey I'm just a surprised as you are. He could have ended up in any country, any time, any... any, anywhere but he's here. I could be in trouble"

"What why?" Mariah asked confusedly

"Because I wasn't wished here."

"Oh yeah…" Mariah bit her lip nervously "this is all my fault"

"No" Hilary shook her head "its ok. I've had a good run! For now lets just enjoy this evening."

"Good idea" the two girls clinked their glasses together in a toast before sipping at them in a ladylike fashion.

"Is everything alright girls?"

Mariah and Hilary turned to greet Ana Hiwatari, Mariah pointed out from across the room a dress that had been designed to look like a swan draped over a lady. It even had a swans head and mournful gaze and the three woman stood together speculating as to why the dress had been chosen.

The conversation was kept light and on easy topics, occasionally Ana tried to bring it around to Kai and Hilary hoping to glean some information from this girl but every time she tried Hilary would redirect the conversation onto another matter entirely.

It was during this talk that Hilary noticed the aura around Ana Hiwatari had grown darker, the woman herself seemed to be fine, a little tired but she showed no other outward signs that she was slowly getting more ill as the evening progressed.

"Ana are you alright?" Hilary waited until she was sure that Kai's mother showing outward signs of her illness taking affect before saying anything. "You look a little pale"

Mariah staring at the woman nodded "She's right, are you feeling OK?"

"Fine!" Ana shrugged off their concern but Hilary could see that this gesture was slightly clumsy and her voice was not particularly bright. "I've just not been allowed a drink all evening and now I'm sorely tempted to have one."

"you just stick to water" Mariah warned "you know what the doctor said"

"Basically stop having fun?" Ana moaned starting to sound like a thirteen year old instead of a fully grown woman.

Mariah and Hilary exchanged glances and with an understanding, that neither of them knew they had, they both agreed on something.

"I'll be right back" Hilary moved away from the two at the bar, carefully weaving her way through the crowds she slowly made her way to where Kai stood with his mow calm aunt and father.

"Kai?" Hilary asked edging towards him

"Yes?" he turned and relieved to see her smiled warmly.

"I need a word" she reached forward taking his hand in hers and smiling politely at the group he had been standing with dragged him away.

Now Kai was curious "Hilary what's wrong?"

"Your mother" Hilary asked staring into his eyes "what exactly is wrong with her?"

"Nothing" Kai lied not really wanting to think about it "look It's nothing. Ok?"

"No" Hilary shook her head and frowned "Kai..." Hilary trailed off, how could she explain that she sensed that his mother needed help right now! How could she explain that she was worried that if Ana didn't get the attention she needed she wouldn't live much longer. "Please Kai she's looking unwell."

"What?" That got his attention, immediately his gaze flickered around the room, he was obviously searching for his mother.

"I saw her over there" Hilary whispered pointing and taking his hand again to lead him back to where she had left Mariah and his mother, as she showed him where to go there was a crash of something falling and a scream.

Kai was running now, his hand still clasped Hilary's as he dragged her over to where a small crowd was gathering.

Ana Hiwatari lay on the floor.

Mariah was kneeling beside her trying to wake her up.

"Mother" Kai dropped to his knees beside the unconscious woman, "Mum?"

"Someone call an ambulance" Hilary yelled, immediately someone to her left pulled out a phone and began dialling.

--

Hilary and Mariah sat in the waiting room in their dresses getting some very odd looks. Neither of them had wanted to leave but neither of them were allowed to join Kai. Tala had gone with him as he went to speak with his mother's doctor but it was a private talk. Besides Mariah had a bone to pick with Hilary.

"Can't you do anything?" Mariah hissed to her friend

"No, not unless he wishes it"

"But you can do something? If he says those words you can do something." Mariah asked trying to understand. After all saving someones life was very different to helping Kai with his business.

"Well saving a life is very difficult, it takes an extraordinary amount of power because you're not just making something, you're fighting for a soul to remain on earth when it could be it's time to leave. It's the most diifficult spell you ever learn"

"But you know how to do it?"

"Yes, I know it, yes I could do something... but, how can I make him say those words? It would be different if..." Hilary trailed off not wanting to finish. She felt so guilty.

"If he knew who you were?" Mariah ended the sentence with obvious dislike "If you had just told him from the beginning"

"Hey there is no way of know that he'd even have a wish left now if he knew what I was, statistically most people on discovering they own a genie use their wishes within one week."

"There are statistics?" Mariah asked amazed, she was constantly surprised by the depth and intricacy Hilary worked. After all you read most stories and it's all very simple but according to Hilary there were rules, regulations and now statistics.

Hilary was interrupted from answering by the reappearance of Kai and Tala

"How is she?" Mariah asked standing up and walking to meet them.

"They're operating on her now but..."

"But?" Mariah prompted

"They need a donor, this is so stupid, I need someone to die to save my mother. Is it wrong that I wish someone would die?"

Mariah gasped and turned to look briefly at Hilary who merely shook her head. That was when Mariah remembered, no wishing people dead, Hilary couldn't kill.

"It's not that" Tala told his friend "You don't wish someone dead, you just wish your mother would get better"

"Yeah, I do, I really do"

Oh to hell with the rules.

Hilary had made a swift decision.

No one would ever know.

She was already going to be in trouble when she got home.

It wasn't as though anyone ever checked up on you really.

And Homer would understand... she hoped.

"Mariah lets go get these two some coffee" Hilary suggested

The pink hared girl nodded following her friend nervously.

As soon as they were out of earshot Mariah spoke.

"I thought that, that wish didn't count, you said you can't kill!"

"It still counts" Hilary decided "he made a wish, of sorts. When Tala said he wished she would get well, Kai agreed. Well... I'm counting it."

"Is that against the rules?" Mariah asked loving that Hilary had decided to do something.

"Are you going to report me?" Hilary stopped them walking all of a sudden and turning gazed into the pink haired girls amber eyes.

"Not a chance" Mariah grinned and suddenly Hilary smiled back

"Good, now follow me."

--

Looking through the window into the operating room Hilary and Mariah watched as people ran around Ana Hiwatari. The woman was pale, there was a gaping hole in her chest where a surgeon was carefully hooking her heart up to a machine and there was a large monitor showing the heartbeat.

"Are we in time?" Mariah asked nervously "Can you do it from here?"

"Yes and No. Yes, we're in time but no, I can't do it from here. I need to get closer."

"How? She's surrounded?"

"Simple" Hilary turned to smile at Mariah, looking down she took hold of the other girls hand and whispered "I'll just have to stop time itself."

"You can't do that!" Mariah argued "that's impossible..." Mariah trailed off as she realised that she could no longer hear anything, looking back into the room she was stunned to see that everyone had just stopped moving. "This isn't real" Mariah tried to pull away from Hilary but immediately found her hand clasped even tighter

"Let go of me and you'll be frozen like them" Hilary told her "c'mon Mariah I need you for this bit."

Mariah allowed herself to be led into the room and slowly up to Ana Hiwatari's beside.

"This is so weird" Mariah muttered looking around "How... Why?"

"Mariah this frozen state will last only another minute, now hold my arm" Mariah obeyed "do not let go, I need to use both hands here but I need you to make sure that once I have done what I must you'll get me out of here."

"How will I know when to move you?" Mariah asked nervously

"trust me" Hilary grinned "you'll know."

Turning to the body Hilary made a few signs with her hands and placed them on Ana's chest, carefully she moved the surgeons knives out of the way, she made swift decisive movements as she pressed certain pressure points on the heart. Whispering almost silently she then held one hand over the open chest. A light like Mariah had never seen before glowed around Hilary's hands and the whole room started to feel warm, she could feel Hilary trembling and great spasms shook the room. She heard Hilary curse lightly under her breath.

Finally there was a loud noise and the entire room shuddered.

Mariah was only just able to hold onto Hilary as the brunette fell to the floor exhausted, carefully she pulled Hilary out of the room half carrying her, half dragging her and walked with her out into the corridor. They made it with mere seconds to spare as the everyday noises of the hospital surrounded them and movement could be heard once more.

Placing Hilary on a chair Mariah moved back to the window. She watched amused as the surgeons stood around trying to work out what was going on. On the bed Ana Hiwatari was moving to sit up, no one seemed too sure what was going on. Mariah could barely stop herself from laughing as she went back to see to Hilary

* * *

I was going to leave it on a cliff-hanger but I had time to finish off so I thought 'why not?' Next chapter will probably be the last.

BTW I still haven't decided on a happy/non happy ending. It's all up to Ari Dark Princess really! I think she'll want happy though!

Please R&R


	11. Chapter 11

BTW if anyone recognises a few little hints of Full Metal Alchemist in this then you may be right. I love FMA and was ever so slightly influenced by that particular anime for some of the stuff coming up. Oddly enough I've never written any stories for it.

Kai's mothers name changed from Anna to Ana because... well I forgot! I didn't realise my mistake until later and as no one brought it up didn't bother to change it. I was planning on editing it at a later date when I had time but now it had been brought up I thought I'd just explain it to you all!

I do not own Full Metal Alchemist or Beyblade, and I really wish the spell check would stop trying to correct the word beyblade into be blade!! I added it but it keeps forgetting!

Dedicated to Ari dark princess.

* * *

"Hilary?"

The worried voices around her sounded distant and vague. Hilary couldn't remember exactly what happened but she knew she ought to sit up. After all it didn't sound or feel like she was at home. Things were a bit blurry as Hilary tried to open her eyes.

"Is she ok?"

That was Kai. What was going on exactly?

"Perhaps I should check her blood pressure"

That voice she didn't know but she knew that those words were bad.

If someone took her blood pressure she had no idea what it would do to the machinery but she was pretty sure it wouldn't read normally. Groaning she pushed herself up trying to ignore her pounding head.

"Hilary!" Mariah bounded over to the bed as her friend sat up "Are you ok?"

"Yeah" Hilary opened her eyes and smiled at the four concerned faces staring at her "Sorry to freak you out!" she smiled at the three people she knew giving a polite nod to the nurse standing nearby.

"I'm just glad you're ok"

At that voice Hilary focussed her attention on Kai, his voice was low and concerned. Blushing a little at his worried gaze, Hilary looked down to find herself lying on a hospital bed still dressed in her ball gown. Now she remembered!

"Mariah said you fainted when seeing blood" Tala murmured his gaze fixed on his girlfriend. While it was entirely plausible that Hilary had collapsed seeing blood he personally didn't believe it. He was looking forward to questioning his girlfriend later.

"Oh yes" Hilary nodded raising her eyebrow at the pinkette who shrugged a little helplessly..

"Mr Hiwatari" someone entered the room getting Kai's attention

"Yes?"

"Your mother wants to see you, nurse Harper will you take Mr Hiwatari to his mothers room?"

"Of course" the nurse nodded smiling as she walked to the door.

"Oh! Right" Kai turned back to Hilary "look I'll be right back ok?"

"Ok, but really I'm fine"

"Tala you coming?" Kai asked as he headed out the door.

"Yeah" Tala nodded following his friend out, he turned to ask mockingly "Will you two manage to avoid fainting while we're gone?"

"Of course" Mariah blushed noting her boyfriends curious look. Them minute they were alone she turned to Hilary whispering "I think he suspects something."

"Why are we whispering?" Hilary hissed back

"Oh, no reason" Mariah grinned her voice returning to it's normal volume. "Are you ok?"

"Fine" Hilary shook her head trying to get it straight "she was pretty close to death back there, I had to really fight for her soul."

"Her soul?" Mariah asked curiously "so you did something to her soul?"

"No" Hilary paused "look when you make something, or change something in this world you need to be able to access the basic ingredients. If you were to ask me to make you something and it would need a non existent item to make it, I couldn't make it, do you understand? You can make a human body if you want but it's nothing without a soul, hers was leaving her body. If I had been any later I would've lost her."

"That's weird" Mariah stated as she walked around the room thinking to herself... "so…how many wishes does Kai have left?"

"It ought to be two but…" Hilary bit her lip "technically he made two wishes. One for someone to die, which of course I couldn't grant, and one for his mother. That kind of means one left."

"Only one?" Mariah stared at her "so… this is it?"

"I can't risk getting into anymore trouble. Mariah once I get back Homer will probably tell everyone I broke the rules."

"Homer?"

"The genie belonging to the necklace at the party tonight!" Hilary almost shouted exasperated "He saw me at the party?"

"Sorry I forgot, I mean... a lots happened since then."

--

"I really don't understand it" the doctor told Kai and Tala as they stared at him expectantly "One second we were operating and the next…."

"The next I'm sitting up surrounded by doctors perfectly healthy" Ana spoken up from her bed "All my tests are showing up as normal, I feel better than I have done in years. But they still won't let me out of bed until they've run even more tests."

"Well I'm glad you're ok mum" Kai smiled at his mother as she sat impatiently on her hospital bed

"How could this happen?" Tala asked "don't think I'm not happy that it did Mrs H, but still… it's kind of odd."

"Well I didn't believe in miracles before now" the doctor spoke gently "but what happened here is definitely something I can't explain."

"Right" Tala nodded thinking back to his girlfriend and the girl they had left her with. Something had happened there, there was no mistake about that but what? Had Hilary and Mariah got something to do with Kai's mothers sudden awakening? Shaking his head he looked at Kai, "Come on, lets go tell the girls the good news."

--

As soon as he got back to the room Tala dragged his girlfriend out under the guise of 'leaving Kai and Hilary alone together' and began to question her.

"Ok what aren't you telling me?" Tala asked after a long time of interrogating her got him nowhere. She stuck to her story of Hilary just fainting at the sight of blood, a story Tala was now almost sure was a lie.

Tala stared at his girlfriend in a way that made Mariah realise why the redhead was so feared when it came to business. When he was with her he was kind and gentle and she had never understood the stories people told of Tala practically terrifying people into improving.

"What do you mean? Mariah tired to feign ignorance but it was obvious form Tala's expression that he wasn't buying it.

"Come on Mariah!" Tala eye's hardened "something happened to Kai's mum, she's perfectly well and I mean perfectly! It's ridiculous!" he took Mariah's hands in his "Tell me!?!"

"Maybe it was just…." Mariah paused, she didn't want to lie to her boyfriend, she really didn't. "I can't tell, I promised…" suddenly both became aware of a strange humming sound and looking back into the room the could see an odd glow in between Kai and Hilary. Mariah stood stunned and silent before realising what must have happened.

"No!" Mariah yelled as she tore herself away from Tala and wrenched the door open. "Tell me you didn't make a wish."

--

"I'm glad your mother is ok" Hilary told Kai a little embarrassed at being left alone with him "I was a little worried."

"Yeah the doctor says it's a miracle" Kai watched Hilary as she nodded, a part of him was suddenly understanding what Tala had felt with Mariah, this sudden determination that there was only one girl for him. The realisation that he didn't just want her but he needed her as well. He had been so worried when Mariah had told them Hilary had fainted, it was bad enough that his mother had been in trouble but having Hilary in danger as well had been really bad.

"Well that's… interesting" Hilary said with a small smile, she turned to climb off the bed, not an easy thing to do with her ;large dress. Kai seeing her struggle moved forward and helped her down "thank you"

"Any time" Kai told her gently. Hilary looked up at him and almost gasped, he looked so serious, and yet, so loving. He lifted one hand up and slowly cupped her cheek "Hilary…"

He didn't get any further. Hilary suddenly deciding that, if you're gonna break one rule, you may as well break them all, leaned up and kissed him.

It was a sweet and gentle kiss full of love and it made the two sharing it feel happier than they had ever been before. They parted staring at each other coyly, Hilary bit her lip nervously trying to think of something to say.

Kai seeing her anxiety took her hands in his and asked "Be with me forever? Please, I don't know what your reason for saying you can't be with me is, but I don't care. Please just stay with me?"

Hilary stood stunned, as she realised that he meant what he was saying her throat became tight and she felt choked. She couldn't say yes, she couldn't be a part of this world, the transformation of a genie to human was almost impossible, it was rumoured that millennia ago a genie had become human but it was considered to be a myth, so much so that they didn't even teach it when you studied to become a qualified genie.

She knew one thing though.

For a genie to become a human it needed a human anchor.

A human would have to be willing to be the person Hilary became attached to, of course the same rules applied. If either the genie or the anchor was destroyed then both would cease to exist. That meant that if Hilary became a human anchoring herself to Kai and then she got hit by a bus the next day dying as a result then Kai would die too.

She couldn't ask that of him.

"Well?" Kai was waiting for an answer.

"I'm sorry" her breath became ragged gasps as she told him "I can't"

"Why not?" he looked heartbroken.

"It's a long story" Hilary bit her lip and then smiling fearfully whispered "wish for something… something stupid like a slice of cake or a new pair of shoes"

"What"

"Wish for something, nothing big, just a small thing, like a new tie"

"Why"

"So I can explain something to you"

"Ok…" Kai gave her an odd look "I wish for… a slice of cake"

Satisfied Hilary stood back, making a small sign with her hands she concentrated, soon a small glow surrounded her making Kai move back. The glow became smaller concentrating on her hands and as the light faded into nothing Kai could see a small plate in her hands, on the plate was a large slice of cake covered with yellow frosting.

"Oh my God" he whispered staring at her "What the hell are you?"

"Make a wild guess" she replied with a grin placing the plate down on the table

"The only explanation I can think of is….well it's impossible"

"Say it" she told him gazing into his eyes

"Genie?" he asked watching for her response.

"Yes… and… I'm afraid that was your last wish"

"What?" Kai moved forward now grabbing her shoulders "What do you mean?"

At that moment Mariah burst into the room closely followed by Tala "Tell me you didn't make a wish." were the first words out of the pink haired girls mouth.

"Sorry Mariah" Hilary turned and grinned at her friend "you're too late for that"

The three friends watched as Hilary's form began to fade, she turned to gaze at Kai as the human world faded from her view.

"Goodbye"

And then she was gone.

--

"Hilary of the Tatibana family please stand"

Shaking a little Hilary pulled herself to her feet and stood in front of the council. She had been wrong about one thing, it wasn't Homer who ratted her out, he actually spoke in her defence. An elder had been doing a routine check up on who was where, it was easy to locate genies in other worlds, all you needed was a simple viewing system much like a television and to know which genie's eyes you want to look through.

It had been quite a shock for the 58 century old man to access Hilary's vision just in time to see her moving in for the kiss.

"You know the charges for what you have done?"

"Yes" Hilary nodded, she was being charged with breaking the code of conduct between other worldly creatures and genie's. It wasn't the worst of crimes that she could think of but it was one of the worst that had been brought up before the council. Never before in anyone's memory had anyone done this. In fact no one had ever done anything to mean that council had to meet before.

It had been hilarious at the beginning… perhaps Hilary shouldn't have laughed… they had fumbled around trying to work out who was doing what. They had even had trouble knowing where to hold the meeting and where everyone should sit.

She really shouldn't have laughed when they spent seven minutes waiting for someone to start only to realise they had forgotten to invite the judge.

When the judge arrived and instantly tripped over the door in his hurry to get in he had dropped his books.

Really shouldn't have laughed there!!

Never before had any genie broken the rules.

It just wasn't done.

Her parents had been so ashamed.

She was stating with her sister these days.

"As punishment for your actions you're licence to act as a genie in foreign words is revoked. You will never again be allowed to travel to another world."

"Never?" Hilary couldn't stop the word coming out of her mouth

"You have a problem with that?"

"No, my apologies for speaking out of turn." Hilary bowed her head respectfully. Suddenly she didn't feel like laughing anymore

"You may leave"

Hilary walked out to find her sister waiting for her, glancing around she hissed "they don't know…"

"No" she shook her head "Are you OK?"

"Not really, I can never go back."

"Hilary, you wouldn't get back to his world in his lifetime, he wouldn't be there"

"I know" Hilary shrugged a little "but I would have been able to look him up, everyone's really into their family tree's at the moment, I could have found out about him. What he did, if he met someone…"

"Do you want him to have met someone?"

"I guess I should say yes right?" Hilary asked with a slight smile, Louisa gave her a knowing look making Hilary chuckle "but honestly… no"

"Come on" Louisa offered "Lets go home, where you belong."

"Yeah" Hilary nodded faking a smile 'but I don't really belong here anymore'

* * *

Well thanks for reading, I know that the ending was a bit too tragic for some people but I was feeling very depressed about my break up.

My thanks to all those who reviewed I really loved reading the reviews. Please don't hate me.

R&R

--

--

--

--

--

Oh who am I kidding?

I may have given up on romance in my life but this isn't the real world!

--

--

Sitting on his sofa Kai glared at his television, the images flashed across the screen but he didn't really see them. Sighing he allowed his head to droop down onto the sofa, closing his eyes he allowed his hand to loll to the side and wrap around one of the bottles that lay on the floor. Lifting it up he unscrewed the lid and eyes still closed took a swig.

Immediately he sat up coughing and spluttering.

"Damn" he cursed looking carefully at the bottle "Wasabi?"

"Yeah it's better for you than the junk you've been drinking recently" Tala smirked as his friend glared at him.

"When did you get in here?" Kai asked staring surprised at his visitor

"An hour ago, you've been drifting in and out for a while."

"Go away, get back to your girlfriend, go enjoy your fucking happy life." Kai threw the bottle he had been holding at his friend but it fell lamely to the floor.

"Nice aim" Tala told his friend smirking. "Look Kai you have to leave this place even if it's just for a short while."

"Why?"

"Because your mother, who has been running your business since you started acting like this, is busy going through her divorce, tomorrow she needs you to be there for the deposition."

There was a short silence before Kai finally rolled off his sofa insulting Tala as he went.

--

After an exceedingly long and dull few hours with his parents and their solicitors Kai allowed himself to be talked into going back to Tala's for a meal.

He regretted it the minute he walked in the door.

"You" he hissed angrily glaring at Maria

"Look I know you're angry"

"Angry?" Kai glared at the girl "You knew what she was and you didn't tell me, do you really think I would have wasted my last wish like I did if I had known?"

"Kai, would you have believed her?" Tala asked "Without seeing Hilary grant that wish?"

There was a long silence as Kai had to admit that without seeing the evidence of what Hilary was right in front of him he would not have believed what he was told.

"Still her fault" he muttered childishly.

"Kai just come with me" Mariah told him with a moan, she then led him and Tala into the sitting room. Once inside she proudly pointed to her newest antique "Tala brought this for me the other day, took ages to track down the owner and cost us a lot of money. This necklace is a one of a kind, it's from the Victorian era."

"Fascinating" Kai muttered

"It is isn't it?" she said smilingly laying a hand on the necklace "And… though it be not in my power to wish it I ask for an audience"

At that moment a glowing light filled the room and after it faded a man had appeared in front of them,

"Hello" the man was attractive, raven haired and wore a suit that belonged in the Edwardian period. He was very suave as he smiled at Mariah "So you brought me, I don't usually have such a beautiful owner" he bowed respectfully in a way almost befitting the old fashioned style of clothes he wore.

"Ahem!" Tala got the mans attention giving him the obvious '_she__'__s taken_' look. "I brought you."

"Tala" Mariah groaned, she then turned to face the newcomer "You're Homer right?"

He blinked confusedly as his smile disappeared "Yes…how do you know that? I never gave my name?"

"Hilary"

"Ah the rebel" Homer nodded feeling amused and ever so slightly angry "I thought I recognised that young man" he indicated Kai

"You know Hilary?" Kai asked sounding desperate

"I do" Homer nodded taking in Kai's appearance, he looked as though he hadn't eaten properly in months, which of course was true. "I was her teacher long ago. She's well, now that she's back in the genie realm. Where she belongs."

"She…" Kai paused "She doesn't miss me?"

"It is not in my power to say" Homer said the words carefully, his eyes flashed with anger as he glared at Kai "and because of her actions with you she will never return to this world again, or any other."

"She's no longer a genie?" Mariah asked "why? Because she broke the rules?"

"Yes."

"She must be broken hearted" Mariah whispered "Can we get her back?"

"Get her back?" Kai asked his voice more hopeful than it had been for a long time "You mean by anchoring her to someone?"

"I think I understand." Homer spoke quietly "You want to wish her back?"

"And human" Mariah told him "Can you do it?"

"Well no… I mean it can be done but… the magic is… difficult to say the least"

"I know" Mariah nodded

"And we need an…"

"An anchor, like Kai said" Mariah said and she received a nod from the genie

"And you know the problems that come with that"

"Yes. I'll be the anchor" Kai told him, he stepped forward. "I'm the one that'll be taking the risk"

"I see" Homer nodded "you know the problems?"

"Yes" Kai nodded, the very day of Hilary's disappearance from his presence Mariah had told him everything. She had explained why Hilary had not told him everything, why Hilary had not wanted to burden him with the knowledge of what she was and… most importantly what he would have needed to do.

"I'm afraid it's not all that easy, there are complicated rules for this kind of thing." Homer sighed and paced across the floor "There is an ingredient needed for the spell, something that is thought doesn't even exist."

"Well that's stupid" Kai practically shouted "why base a spell around a non-existent ingredient?"

"Hey I never said it was clever, but it may not be impossible." Homer sighed pinching his nose and thinking hard. "First things first…. Hilary has to agree to it."

--

Still staying in her sisters house Hilary sat on her bed staring down at her hands. She had lost the two most amazing things in her life and there was nothing she could do about it. It had been a long time since she had seen Kai, she wasn't sure of the actual time frame but she knew one thing. It had been too long.

Lying flat out she stared at the dress she had worn the last time she saw Kai, it hung on the door of her wardrobe almost taunting her with it's beauty. Her throat was feeling tight again, like there was a huge lump she couldn't swallow, normally she tired to ignore it, to ignore the pain, but today she just allowed her body to react. Before she knew what was happening great wrenching sobs spilt form her lips and hot tears fell down her cheeks. Rolling to bury her head her pillow and stifle the noise of her crying Hilary didn't even feel the presence in her room.

It wasn't until a hand was placed on her back, and a gentle voice whispered her name that she even noticed someone else was there.

"Hilary?"

"Homer-sensei?" rolling over Hilary looked up at her teacher and wiped the tears from her cheeks "what are you doing here?"

"Granting a wish" Homer told her gently "but it looks like most of the work has been done for me."

"What do you mean?" Hilary asked confused

"It's a long story…, Hilary have you ever cried before?"

"Cried?" Hilary asked confusedly, thinking about it she realised, no, she had never in her memory cried. "No. I can't remember a time when I have"

"What about your sister's baby?" Homer asked "Have you ever seen her cry?"

"No" Hilary shook her head again, truth be told she had never seen a genie cry, she had never thought about it before but it was true. "I guess I just never noticed…. Why is it so important?"

"No real reason" Homer chuckled as he brushed Hilary's tears away with his hands and looked down at them "But it's an ingredient needed for a spell, an ingredient that no one really believes exists. I have to go, I'll see you in a minute"

--

Homer reappeared in front of the group of people he had left behind, they seemed surprised to see him again.

"That was quick" Tala said surprised "I thought you had a secret ingredient to go find. I was expecting a quest that lasted at least nine hours"

"You really hated Lord of the Rings didn't you" Mariah asked "I only made you watch it once."

"There were three bloody films!!!"

"It took less time than I thought" Homer spoke contemplatively totally ignoring the squabbling couple "Are you all still sure this is what you want?"

"Of course it is" Kai hissed throwing up his hands angrily at such a stupid question.

"Then your friend had better make the wish, careful how you word it young man"

"Alright" Tala nodded "I wish for Hilary to come back here and become human with Kai as her anchor"

"Perfect" the genie smiled and pressed his hands together in a prayer like pose.

To their left they saw a slight glow, it grew stronger and after a minute they could see a form within the glow, once the shape of Hilary was obvious the glow disappeared and all that was left was a petite brunette sitting with her knees drawn up to her chest and her forehead resting on her knees. She didn't even seem to notice her change in surroundings as her shoulders shook and she sniffed noisily.

With a perverse feeling of pleasure that she was missing him Kai grinned and he walked forward and knelt slowly beside her.

"Hilary?"

Tearstained she looked up shocked at the sound of his voice, her eyes widened even further when she looked around at the room "What the…?? Kai…? …Homer?"

"I decided that I needed a new necklace" Mariah said with a shrug

"I told you I was granting a wish" Homer laughed a little at Hilary's obvious confusion.

"But…" Hilary stared at Kai still not quite understanding "you don't know what this entails…"

"Actually Mariah explained it all" Kai told her cupping her cheek gently "I've just spent five months without you and it was hell. If you died I'd be quite happy to die with you"

"It's been five months here?" she asked standing and looking around as though expecting to see something to confirm the fact.

"Yeah how long has it been for you?"

"A little less time" she admitted, she stared up at him feeling an almost unbearable amount of happiness as she looked at him. "but it was awful. I missed you so much"

"I missed you too" Kai dipped his head and kissed her gently, Hilary immediately responded winding her arms around his neck and pulling him close.

"Um Hilary" Homer interrupted "we still need to anchor you to him. I know your pretty attached to him right now but it's not official"

"Sorry" breaking the kiss Hilary laughed as she pressed her forehead against Kai's staring into his eyes

"Ok" Homer walked forward "Kai you're fully aware of what this entails and you really want to do this?"

"I do" Kai nodded firmly

"And you really want this Hilary?"

"I do" she laughed realising how matrimonial all this sounded

"Ok" Homer took Kai's left hand and Hilary's right and joined them, he then placed a hand over their joined hands and a small glowing light surrounded the joined hands.

It looked like Kai felt nothing but it was obvious that Hilary was affected as her whole body began to shake and as soon as the process was over she slumped towards the ground only to be caught by Kai.

"What's wrong?" he asked worriedly staring down at her unconscious face, he was surprised at how still she was.

"It's nothing" Homer told him smiling "she's just lost a lot of power. It'll affect her for a few minutes that's all. She's going to have trouble adjusting though, she's never felt pain, she's never had to sleep in this world, or..."

"I'll be fine" Hilary muttered shifting a little in Kai's arms, he immediately cuddled her closer smiling down at her, after a while her eyes opened and she stared over at her old teacher "Thank you"

"I barely did anything" Homer told her "I am however beginning to understand why the spell I just did has that impossible to find ingredient. You need to really break a genie's heart to make them cry, yours was broken"

"Wait tears?" Tala asked surprised "all it needed was tears? Kai's cried enough of those recently"

"Hey" Kai punched his friend lightly on the shoulder "shut it!"

Mariah and Hilary laughed at the two of them before Hilary suddenly remembering something turned to her teacher "Hey Homer how many wishes you got left to give?"

"Just two now" he stretched a little,

"Well when you get back could you tell mum and dad what happened?"

"Of course"

"Oh no you didn't get to say goodbye to your parents" Mariah gasped "I should have thought of that"

"They'll be ok" Hilary gave a small shrug

"Your friend here could always wish them here for a few minutes" Homer suggested

"Um…" Hilary paused "oh no…, no that's not a good idea"

"Hilary they it would be a few minutes at the most, how much complaining can they get in, in two minutes?" Mariah asked surprised

Homer and Hilary shared a quick glance before saying together "A lot!"

"Maybe you could get Louisa here?" Hilary asked pleadingly. Homer looked at Tala who nodded and made the wish, the genie then disappeared. After a few moments he re-appeared holding a young woman by the arm.

"Hilary?" Louisa looked around confused until she saw her sister. Moving forward Louisa opened her arms and had soon wrapped her younger sister in her arms. "Oh Hils you always did have to do things differently"

"Yeah" Hilary agreed, "sorry about that" she pulled away from her sister to see that she was smiling brightly.

"You're sure this is what you want?" Louisa asked looking around at the three other humans in the room "You really think you can cope with this?"

"Louisa for once in my life I have no idea what's going to happen" Hilary turned to look at Kai "and I really couldn't be happier."

Louisa watched at the blue haired young man shared a smile with her sister, moving forward she stood in front of Kai "listen you, that's my little sister and if you ever do anything to hurt her I will find a way to get here and I will find a way to hurt you, got that?"

"Got it" Kai nodded a little fearfully knowing that with her powers if this woman broke the rules she could really hurt him. "but don't worry I love her, I'll never hurt her."

Louisa looked into the young mans eyes and realised just how much honesty there was in them. He was being honest, he did love Hilary and more importantly he meant it when he said he wouldn't hurt her. Maybe Hilary had a chance at happiness here.

--

"Seriously there aren't enough hours in these dumb twenty four hour days." Hilary muttered as she styled carefully Mariah's hair. It was a warm day and they sat on a picnic blanket in the park resting in the sun. An untouched basket of food sat to their right awaiting lunchtime but both girls had a glass of juice at their sides.

"I remember you saying that when you first started being a human." Mariah laughed picking up her cup and taking a sip.

"Yeah well that was just adjusting to the eight hour sleep thing." Hilary replied with a shrug "I mean you humans need so much sleep."

"WE humans" Mariah corrected "and careful where you say that! You don't want the kids to pick it up"

"Mariah the kids are all the way over there" Hilary retorted turning her head to look over at where Kai was crawling around on all fours while their four year old son sat on his back. Tala was similarly positioned with his and Mariah's three year old boy holding on tight.

"I know but Ana is going to be here soon, you gotta be careful what you say, she'll think her sons married to an insane lady."

"Dating" Hilary corrected "Kai and I are only dating"

"You guys are practically married" Mariah complained "I still don't understand why you aren't."

"I have no birth certificate" Hilary reminded her friend "I can't get married if I was never born. Besides, Kai and I are linked in a way better than marriage… of course I do worry about Gou sometimes." sighing heavily Hilary turned her ruby eyes back to where her son sat giggling while his father pretended to be a horse. "If anything were to ever happen to Kai and I…" Hilary didn't say the words but Mariah knew what she was thinking, ever since Gou had been born she knew that Hilary had been weighed down with worry for her son.

"Tala and I would look after Gou" Mariah said with certainty "you know that. He and Lee are best friends, it would be easy."

"Yeah" Hilary nodded "of course now you've got another one on the way I'll have to be careful to help you out" Hilary reached forward and placed a hand on Mariah's rounded stomach "What are you hoping for this time?"

"I'd love a girl but I don't mind…"

"As long as it's healthy?" a new voice entered the conversation and Mariah and Hilary turned to see Kai's mother as she reached their picnic blanket and sit down. "That's what all parents say. Hello Mariah, Hilary"

"Hello Ana… drink?" Mariah handed over a cup and their bottle of water

"Thank you, how are you feeling Mariah"

"Pregnant" Mariah muttered unhappily "I swear it's worse the second time around."

"Don't say that!" Ana scolded "I'm still hoping for a couple more grandchildren from that one" smiling Ana indicated Hilary "Any chance of that happening?"

"Not yet" Hilary shook her head "but maybe one day."

Turning to look at the group of boys playing on the grass Hilary smiled gently, she had to admit that sometimes she missed her friends and family back at home, she also missed helping people as she had when she worked as a genie. She still helped people but now it was with charity events and organising fundraising. Still being a mother was one of the few things that she never regretted, she adored her son, he really was a product of her love for Kai. A bubbly and happy child who although he had everything, showed no signs of being spoiled. He and his father had an amazing connection and she had to admit that another child would be wonderful.

As she stared Kai suddenly looked up and caught her eye, they shared a smile and soon Kai had grabbed his son hoisting him up onto his shoulder. Gou's hand pummelled at his fathers back and his little legs kicked almost hitting Kai in the face as he jogged over to the picnic blanket.

"You haven't seen Gou have you?" Kai asked making Hilary laugh

"DADDY!!!" Gou was giggling loudly as he hit his fathers back again

"He's behind you" Hilary said pointing

"He is?" Kai asked surprised, spinning around to look behind him Kai announced "I don't see him!"

"He's behind you" Hilary said again and Kai spun around once more loving the way Gou laughed as his parents played his favourite game. It was Tala who stopped the game as he walked over with his and Mariah's son Lee announcing that he wanted to eat and that if Kai didn't stop messing around he and Lee would eat all the chocolate. That was enough to make Gou stop enjoying himself.

It was as they sat together like one big family and ate their picnic that Hilary made the decision.

She grinned..

"What are you smiling at?" Kai whispered draping his arm around Hilary's shoulders and hugging her close

"Nothing"

"It's something" Kai kept his mouth by her ear as he spoke making her wriggle as his breath tickled her ear. "Tell me"

"I was just thinking..., maybe Gou could do with a little brother or sister" Hilary admitted quietly keeping her voice low so no one else could hear. For a while he said nothing and Hilary worried that she had said the wrong thing, turning to face him she was surprised to see that Kai was actually grinning at her "what?" she asked nervously.

"Hey mum!" Kai addressed Ana casually

"Yes Kai?"

"Can you baby-sit tonight?"

* * *

Ok now it's over!!!

Hope you all enjoyed.


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